


Welcome to the Hell Mouth

by authorette



Category: Once Upon A Time - Fandom
Genre: BtVS AU - Freeform, Buffy AU, Demons, Emma is the Slayer, F/F, Forces of darkness, Regina is a witch, Vampires, hook gets slayed, sadly no nineties fashion, slayer au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-09-26 20:18:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9920717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authorette/pseuds/authorette
Summary: For her twenty eighth birthday, Emma Swan gets a son, parents, and a sacred duty.AKA the one in which I butcher both OUAT and BtVS.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it's been a while! I'm notoriously bad for starting ficus and never finishing or posting them so I figured I'd try posting as I go so it might motivate me to actually finish something.
> 
> This AU is based loosely on BtVS but you should be ok if you've never seen the show. Basically Emma is the Slayer, and Regina is the formerly dark witch that Emma probably shouldn't be crushing on.
> 
> Comments are very welcome :)

_28 years ago_

Regina is elbow-deep in the ground, planting her new rose bushes, when Belle and Red push open the gate to her garden. "My, my, what an honour," she sneers. "The Watcher and her guard dog." Belle flinches. "Oh yes," Regina smirks, "I quite forgot. Ex-watcher."

"Shut up Regina," Belle says warily. 

"It's not very polite to come into someone's garden, without invitation, and tell them to shut up," Regina mocks. "Perhaps you should have read more books on etiquette, especially since all those other books didn't stop your Slayer from getting killed."

Red growls, but Belle gives her a warning look. "Regina, I haven't come here to argue with you. We need to talk to you and I don't have much time before the Council reconvenes to select the new Slayer."

Regina's eyebrows shot up. "Do you mean to tell me that, after everything that has happened, you've come for my help?" She laughs incredulously. "You have some nerve."

"Rumplestiltskin has restarted the opening of the Hellmouth," Red says urgently. "You have to help us stop it!"

"I don't have to do anything, dog." Regina turns her back to them and continues planting her rose bushes. "In case you don't remember, I've been banned from doing magic. And even if I hadn't, what makes you think I have any interest in helping you defeat Rumplestiltskin?"

"This is pointless." Red tugs on Belle's arm, but Belle pulls free.

"We don't need you to defeat him, Regina, we just need you to tell us how to close the portal. Mulan managed to get a bracelet on him before she....before she...."

"Before she got turned into a Slayer kebab?"

Little red spots of anger appear on Belle's cheeks.

"If you don't help us, the Hellmouth will open. Do you want that?"

"I don't see what difference it possibly makes to me," Regina replies. 

"Let's go, Belle," Red snarls. "Clearly Regina is keen for a reunion with Mommy dearest."

Regina freezes. "What?"

"Your mother," Red repeats angrily. The one you shoved through the portal to hell? I'm guessing she'll be here soon, so you might want to get started on your spring cleaning."

Regina glowers at them, but then throws down her trowel and rises to her feet. 

****

Belle walks most of the way with them but is summoned to return to the Council before they can go inside, so Red and Regina trudge through the mines on their own. After five solid minutes of debating who should walk ahead the compromise is to walk through side by side, even though this means that they both scrape against the walls painfully.

It's hot. That's the first thing Regina notices. And there is a strange humming in the air. Even with the cuff on her wrist, Regina can feel the magic around her.

And then they round the corner and it's right there in front of them. It's large, larger than Regina, and it's shimmering and red hot. The air around it is unfocused and melted, and the sense of magic is so strong that it makes Regina and Red breathless, like they're walking against a strong wind.

It's not open yet. She can tell that straight away. But it's close. Regina gives it no more than a day before it's completely formed.

She turns to Red and holds up her wrist expectantly.

Red shakes her head. "Oh no, I'm not stupid, witchy." 

Regina rolls her eyes. "And how do you expect me to do anything without magic?" 

"You're not supposed to do anything," Red replies. "You're just supposed to look and then tell the Council what to do."

"As if that incompetent band of librarians could do anything about the mouth of hell forming under Storybrooke," Regina bitches under her breath, but she still begins circling the portal and probing the magic. 

Her cuff burns with it but Regina perseveres, motivated by the thought of her mother’s sudden appearance. The rift is wide. Regina can sense the darkness pushing hard against the widening doors, can feel the energy of thousands of demons channelling their energy at this weakened spot between the dimensions.

Regina stumbles back. 

"What?" Red says in alarm. "What is it?"

***

The Council convenes in the old convent building. The Council sits in a semi-circle in their blue ceremonial robes, with Blue the head Watcher in the middle. To the side, Mary Margaret sits beside her husband, that lumbering imbecile that can't form a sentence without her approval. Regina ignores both them and the new baby bundled up in their arms.

"I need to speak with the Slayer," she demands.

The Watchers exchange glances but no one replies.

Regina is exasperated. "Surely by now you must have chosen one?"

"What do you want with the Slayer, witch?" Blue asks.

"It might have escaped your notice," Regina mocks, "but the mouth of hell is currently forming in our mines. Now would be a good time for the Slayer to do something about that."

Again, the Watchers exchange meaningful glances. Regina is quickly losing her patience.

"Look," she says, trying to be civil, but aware that the patronising tone that always seems to creep in when faced with the Watchers' Council is colouring her words. "It's too late to stop the portal from opening. I can't close it until it has opened and I can't do that at the same time as fighting the demons that are going to start pouring out the minute that portal ruptures, so let me talk to the bloody Slayer!"

The Watchers exchange worried glances. Then Belle chimes up. "I'm afraid talking to the Slayer is a little one sided at the moment."

"What on earth does that mean?" Regina turns to follow the gazes of Watchers and comes face to face with Mary Margaret and the bundle in her arms.

"You have got to be joking."

Blue looks at her stubbornly. "The Council has chosen in accordance with the prophecy."

Regina shakes her head. "You mean to tell me that a week old baby is the most competent girl under 18 in the whole world to be the new Slayer?"

"Granted, she is young," Watcher Astrid pipes up, "but her promise is exceptional."

"Shame she'll be dead before she ever slays a single demon”, Regina roars. "Are you out of your minds? How is a baby going to fight the hell mouth?"

****

The Watchers confer for over an hour. Regina sits angrily next to Mary Margaret and David, who are whispering worriedly at one another. The only peaceful soul is the Slayer, who sleeps in her mother’s arms and has no idea what kind of trouble she has caused.

Finally, they are summoned over to the Watchers. 

"We have a solution," Blue says in that superior tone that Regina hates. "Regina will cast a spell that freezes time over Storybrooke. Emma will be taken out with the reach of the spell and will grow up and be trained as a Slayer. Then, when she is ready, she will return and Regina can lift the spell."

Regina bristles. "First of all, I'm not your slave! And secondly, you're asking me to curse this town and everyone in it and freeze their lives for at least eighteen years, which includes me, by the way! We would be prisoners in this town. And there would be no magic because the curse would draw on it to keep the hell mouth closed."

Blue looks sternly at her. “It has to be done, Regina. The fate of the world is at stake.”

"Why can't you cast the spell?” David asks, looking at Regina suspiciously.

Blue purses her lips. “The spell-“

“Curse,” Regina supplies helpfully.

“The curse,” Blue repeats, “is strong dark magic that needs to be held in place for years. We don't have that kind of power.”

Regina smirks. “I bet when you slapped this cuff on me you didn’t think you would see the day that you would have to ask me to save the world.”

Blue ignores her and turns to look at the Slayer and her parents. 

David and Mary Margaret look back, determined. "It's the best solution we have," Mary Margaret says. "The two of us and Emma will leave in the morning."

Regina and Blue both shake their heads. "To cast the curse I need to freeze the town as it is. The curse won't work if it can sense that we're trying to change things before I cast it. I'd say only the Slayer and one other can go before the curse cannot be cast."

Blue nods in agreement. "I'm afraid Regina is right. Only one can go with Emma."

"You should go," David tells Mary Margaret, who is already crying. "Look after her, and bring her back when she's ready."

"Oh David," Mary Margaret sobs, but even as she does Blue shakes her head again. 

"I'm afraid the Slayer must be accompanied by her Watcher." She points to a boy, only six or seven, who stands shyly to the side.

"You have got to be joking," Regina exclaims. "What is this? The Hell mouth preschool special?"

Mary Margaret begins crying in earnest now. 

"That is the way it must be," Blue says firmly. "The Slayer must be trained by her Watcher."

"We only just got her," Mary Margaret wails, clutching at David who also has wet cheeks.

"You cannot seriously be considering this?" Regina says, outraged. "You're going to send your baby off with this child?"

"What other choice do we have?" Mary Margaret asks helplessly. 

"You always have a choice," Regina growls.

David pushes in front of his wife and turns his helpless anguish on Regina. "This is your fault! You were the one that opened the rift to the hell mouth in the first place!"

Regina steps forward, rage boiling up within her in a familiar way. "And why did I do that? Oh yes, I remember now, your wife and her big mouth."

"Enough!" Blue roars. "The time for debate is over."

Regina steps back and takes a deep breath. "Fine," she says, "it's not my child." She looks Blue firmly in the eye. "I have conditions."

"Of course you do," David whispers angrily.

"I will cast the curse," Regina says, ignoring her, "and when the Slayer returns I will close the portal. But after that, I am free to leave Storybrooke,, without the cuff restricting my magic."

Blue purses her lips. "We do not need your help to close the portal. We have years to find a way to do it ourselves."

Regina shrugs. "Fine by me."

"And you must swear a blood oath that you will not use your powers to promote the forces of evil once the curse breaks."

"Fine," Regina sighs, "but you must swear a blood oath too, on behalf of all Watchers present and future, that I will be free to go once the curse breaks."

The Watchers exchange dark looks but reluctantly, one by one, they nod their heads in acquiescence. 

Blue holds out her hand and one of the Watchers closest to her hands her a dagger from his belt. Blue slices a line down her palm and hands the dagger to Regina, blade first. Without wincing, Regina takes the blade and slices her palm as well. Belle appears next to her and removes the cuff, and before Regina can change her mind, Blue clasps their bloody hands together to complete the ancient ritual. 

They both repeat their vows, and afterwards Regina uses her magic to clean herself up. It feels glorious to have her magic back and the thought of giving it up again is almost painful.

The earth begins to tremble. The time is drawing near. Behind her, the Slayer starts wailing.

Regina decides that she doesn't need to see what happens next. Addressing Blue, she says "You have one hour before I cast the curse, so get her away from here."

Then she turns around and stalks out of the convent without looking back.

***

_Present day_

Emma's day is going pretty well for a Monday right up until she hands her bounty off to the police and sees the man leaning against her car.

He holds up his hands beseechingly when he sees her. "Please, Emma," he says pleadingly, "I just want to talk to you for a minute."

Emma shakes her head and turns on her heel to head back inside. "Seriously dude, you have some nerve breaching your restraining order right in front of a police station."

"Emma, wait! You have to listen to me. You can't keep running from you destiny!"

Emma rolls her eyes. "Please don't start again with this crap. You obviously need help but that doesn't mean that you can stalk me like this." She puts her hands on her hips. "You have until I count to ten to get lost or I'm going back in there to have you arrested."

The man shoots her a last helpless look, and then steps away from her bug. Emma pushes past him and flings herself into the drivers seat. Bloody weirdo. She hasn't seen him since she moved to Boston 7 months before but she should have known he would catch up eventually.

She keeps glancing in her rear view mirror to make sure he isn’t following her – the last thing she needs is him showing up in her apartment again. When she’s sure she pulls up in front of her apartment building.

It isn't until she opens the fridge and sees the lone cupcake she had left herself that she remembers that it's her birthday.

"Happy birthday to me," she mutters sarcastically. 

Before she can take out a bite out of the cupcake, theres a banging on the door.

"If this is you, August," she shouts as she walks to the door, "I am seriously calling the cops this time."

But standing in front of the door isn't her stalker. It's a boy of about 10 with a backpack and a striped scarf. 

"Are you Emma Swan?" he asks.

She nods. "Who are you?"

"I'm Henry Mills. Your son."

Emma stares at him. He doesn't seem bothered by her silence, and instead walks past her into the apartment. 

"Do you have any juice?"

Emma feels like her brain and her body are detached. She can see herself walking to the kitchen and pouring the kid a glass of juice but her brain is stuck on repeat. Your son your son your son.

Finally she manages to croak "You're my..."

"The baby you gave up for adoption ten years ago," he replies, smiling a her before taking a sip of juice. "This is good. Mom never lets me have anything fizzy."

The word 'Mom' jars Emma out of her daze. "Kid, do you parents know where you are?"

Henry looks at her, a guilty look on his face. Emma groans.

***

In the end, the fact that he blackmails her into driving him back to Maine is probably what convinces her that he is who he says he is.

She looks him over out of the corner of her eye while she drives. His clothes are clean and look fairly new. He looks like he's well fed. Still, Emma knows all too well that appearances aren't everything.

"So your Mom," she starts, hesitantly, "she treats you ok?"

Henry looks at her with his intense green eye and Emma quickly turns back to the road. The less time she spends looking at this kid the better.

"She's a good Mom," he says after a pause. "When she's not lying to me."

"Ahh." Relieved, Emma nods. "Just found out you're adopted, eh?"

Henry rolls his eyes. "I knew I was adopted. But Mom said my parents were dead."

"I'm sure she had her reasons kid," Emma says, quietly thinking that his mom was probably worried that he'd hightail it to Boston on a Greyhound the way he did today if she told him the truth.

"Like keeping the Slayer out of Storybrooke," Henry mutters darkly. 

Emma jerks the wheel and the car behind her beeps angrily. "What did you just say?"

Henry looks at her curiously. "I think Mom was trying to keep you out of Storybrooke because you're the Slayer. Everyone always says that she's changed and that she's left the past behind her but what if she's fooled is all and she's planning something evil and doesn't want the Slayer around when it happens?"

Emma's hands are trembling. She takes a deep breath. "Kid, what are you talking about ? And why are you calling me the...the..."

"The Slayer?" Henry supplies helpfully. "Don't you know that you're the Slayer?"

_The Slayer_. A shiver runs down her back.

"In every generation there is a chosen one," Henry recites cheerfully. "She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is-"

"She is the Slayer," Emma finishes weakly.

"So you do know!" 

Emma thinks back to all the messages that have been scrawled on her door, shoved under her windscreen, sent in her emails, and one time pulled across the sky by a plane over the years: _Emma Swan is the Slayer_.

How on earth does Henry know about her crazy stalker August? Has August found out about Henry and is trying to get to her through him?

But Henry has already moved on. He's now taking about something called the 'hell mouth', which apparently his mother is keeping closed. "But only until you come back so you can kill all the demons and the portal can be closed."

"Kid," Emma says weakly, "that's a cool story and all, but where exactly did you hear about all this?"

"Oh don't worry," Henry says reassuringly. "In Storybrooke everyone knows about the Slayer and vampires and magic and stuff. It's kind of hard to keep quiet with a massive portal to hell under the town and Mom having to freeze us all in time and all. So that'll be a nice change from having a secret identity."

"Secret identity," Emma repeats weakly.

Henry doesn't seem to mind that Emma isn't really participating in the conversation . Over the next two hours she finds out about his Mom, who's the Mayor, and who won't let Henry have a dog, his babysitter (who is a werewolf), his Mom's book club ("witch coven, Emma!") and a psychic ex-villain who now runs an antique shop.

By the time Henry points out a small country road with a sign that's says _'Welcome to Storybrooke'_ that Emma completely did not see before he pointed at it, it's twilight. 

Storybrooke seems like a cookie-cutter east coast small town. There are few people about, just a man walking a Dalmatian who Henry points out is his therapist, and a woman with curly hair who is locking up a building that Henry says is the library. The woman waves at Henry when they drive by, and Emma sees that in her other hand she's carrying three books and a large, wooden cross. 

In fact, several of the people wandering the side walk seem to have crosses in their hands. Emma feels vaguely uncomfortable- what if this is some sort of weird cult-town?

But then they round a corner and Henry, who's grown ever more silent the closer they get to his house, points at the one at the end of the row. 

It's large, and it's got an honest to god picket fence. There are rose bushes planted along the sides of an immaculate lawn and a large apple tree frames the picture.

The door opens and a woman runs out. Emma barely has time to register a stylish haircut and a sharp grey suit dress before Henry, who is just stepping out of the car, is swept up in her arms.

Emma quickly follows suit and gets out of the car.

"-looking everywhere for you!" she hears. "Where on earth have you been?"

Henry shuffles his feet. "I went to find my birth mom," he says, both his tone and facial expression indicating defiance.

The woman looks like the words are a physical blow. When she looks up at Emma, her eyes are wide and her face is pale.

"You're...you're the..."

"Birth mom?" Emma fills in. "Yeah apparently so. Emma Swan."

"I went through your papers," Henry says, still sounding angry, "I found out that you lied to me! You told me she was dead!"

"Henry," the woman says pleadingly, but Henry yanks his arm away. "You're a liar. If you lied about this your probably lied about everything else too. I bet it's right what people say about you. You never wanted me to find her. You're probably planning something evil!"

"That's enough!" The woman's face is stoney now, but Emma can see that her eyes are shimmering with tears. "Go to your room and calm down. Later we will discuss your punishments for running away. I would take this opportunity to say goodbye to your PS4 for the foreseeable future."

Henry shoots Emma a dark look and storms towards the house. 

Emma shuffles awkwardly and tries to look nonchalant while Henrys mother wipes her eyes before holding out her hand.

"Regina Mills."

Emma takes the hand and shakes it. It's soft and cold. "Emma Swan," she repeats.

"How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?" Regina asks, smiling slightly.

Emma's stomach flops. "Lead the way," she says.

***

The house looks like the set for an interior design photo shoot. Everything is tasteful and the colours all match. There are fresh flowers on the table in the study where Regina leads her. On the walls are photos of her and Henry through the years. In the big one over the mantlepiece, which Emma guesses is at least 3 years old, Henry is missing one of his front teeth. Regina, though doesn't look a day older now than she does in the picture, in which her arms are wrapped around Henry and her smile is wide and open.

Emma shoves her hands in her pockets while Regina pours them both a glass, and tries not to be too conspicuous about checking her out. Emma's always had a thing about women in business clothes and the more wildly inappropriate the crush, the more attractive it seems to make them to her.

"I'm sorry my son dragged you all the way out here, Miss Swan," Regina says as she hands Emma a glass.

"Please call me Emma," she replies. "And it's ok, really. I'm sorry you were worried. I told him to call you but he said he was going to call the police and tell them that I kidnapped him."

Regina's lips twitch for a second. "Well thank you for bringing him back safely. It's not been easy for him in the last few years since I told him he was adopted."

Emma sips the cider and almost chokes - it tastes amazing but it's also super strong. 

Regina's lips manage to make it into a smirk this time. "Too strong?"

Emma shakes her head. "Nah, just thinking about the drive home is all." She looks at her watch. It'll be well and truly night time by the time she makes it back to Boston.

"Do you have to go?" Regina asks, sounding hopeful.

Emma nods and stands. "It's a long drive back to Boston. Thanks for the cider though."

Regina walks her to the door. 

Emma reaches into her pocket and pulls out a business card. "Look, I don't want anything from you or your son. I know I gave him up and he's clearly got a great life here with you. But if he wants to email me, he can use the address on there."

Regina looks at the card with a blank expression on her face, and Emma quickly says "Look, I swear I'm not trying anything. I just don't want him to show up in Boston again in a weeks time because he hasn't got the answers he wanted yet." She runs her hands through her hair. "I know what it's like to have unanswered questions about where you came from. But no pressure; if it's not cool with you then you don't have to give t to him."

Regina takes the card with a nod but doesn't say anything else so Emma takes that as a sign that it's time to go. 

She's half way down the path when she remembers something else. "Does a guy called August Booth ever hang around in Storybrooke?" 

Regina looks puzzled. "I've never heard of him. Why?"

Emma walks back towards her. "He's kind of been stalking me. I've got a restraining order against him but he's kind of obsessed, he's always going on about demons and witches and how I have to save the world. Anyway, on the drive down Henry said some stuff which sounded like it might have come from August. I mean it could just be kid stuff but just to be safe I thought I'd best mention it."

Regina looks like she's fighting very hard to keep a neutral expression on her face. Emma feels terrible; she's probably super worried now over nothing.

"A restraining order?" Regina asks. Emma can see that her right hand is gripping her left arm so hard that the fingers are turning white.

"Yeah, he kind of broke into my apartment and hung up all this crap like garlic and crucifixes and he refused to leave so I decided enough was enough."

"Well, I'll keep an eye out. Thank you for bringing this to my attention Miss Swan." 

Emma shrugs and backs back down the path; she knows a dismissal when she hears one.

"Say bye to Henry for me," she calls, and gets into her car, trying not to notice that Regina stays in the door watching her until she turns the corner.

The town is now fully in darkness and is deserted. Emma speeds down Main Street and past the cemetery and is almost at the woods when a voice pipes up behind her. "I can't believe you're leaving!"

For the second time that day, Emma jumps violently. On instinct she hits the brake and the car skids to a stop. 

"Kid!" she yells. "What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get us both killed?"

Henry crosses his arms and looks defiantly at her. "You're the Slayer! You can't just leave!"

Emma sighs and opens her door to walk round to the back, where she crouches down to speak to Henry. 

"Look, Henry, I know it's a lot to process, and if you've got questions then I'll try to answer them, but your mom seems like a good mom, and trust me I've had enough crappy ones to know the difference. But-"

"Look out!" Henry yells but it's too late. Emma is yanked off the ground and flies into the trunk of a tree.

"Ouch!" She rubs her head where it whacked painfully off a branch and looks at her attacker. He's standing over Henry, his back to her, and he's wearing a suit which, ok, is a weird choice for a mugger. Emma stalks up to him and pulls him back, drawing her fist back to punch him. She hasn't been in a good fight in ages and she's full of righteous indignation. Plus she's always been pretty strong so this should be a dawdle.

But just before her fist makes contact, she sees his face and jumps back with a yelp. 

It's a man, but it's not a man. His forehead and eyebrows are strangely deformed. There are deep grooves across his forehead and his teeth-

His teeth a sharp and long and...

"Emma!" 

Emma turns towards Henry, who throws her something and she catches it on instinct. It's...it's a sharp pointy stick.

"Erm, thanks Henry," she says, trying to sound genuine. How is she going to get rid of that thing surreptitiously without hurting the kid's feelings?

"What are you doing?" he shouts from the car. "Stake him!"

Emma doesn't have much time to process- the man...thing is back to trying to grab her. She rips her right arm free and jabs him hard in the stomach with the pointy stick. He let's out an angry roar but doesn't let go. 

Emma shoves him as hard she can and backs away, getting between him and Henry. 

Maybe this guy has some sort of weird virus? Maybe that's why he keeps acting like he's trying to bite her neck? At first she thought he was wearing a mask but even up close she can't see any edges.

The guy advances slowly but before Emma has a strategy worked out, a short figure in a tan trench coat and killer heels appears beside her, grabs the stick from Emma’s hand,, and shoves it unceremoniously into the guy's chest.

And the guy...the guy just crumbles to dust. Emma blinks furiously but the result is the same: he's gone.

Regina turns around, her face a furious mask. 

"Henry Daniel Mills. Get in the car right now!"

Henry grabs his backpack and with a subdued "night Emma" he hurries towards the black Mercedes that has materialised behind Emma's bug.

"And you! What kind of Slayer are you?"

"Wha-" Emma stutters in response. "Did you see that? That man, he just, just turned to dust! Did you see?"

Regina rolls her eyes. "I thought this was an act. But you really have no idea, do you?"

Emma looks at her blankly.

Regina shakes her head in disbelief. "That, Miss Swan, was a vampire. And I can't believe I'm having to explain that to a Slayer who is twenty seven-"

"Twenty eight today!" Emma remembers. "Wait, vampires?"

And then in the distance there's the sound of a car. 

"Here comes the cavalry," Regina sighs. She presses the stick in her hand against Emma's leather jacket, over her left breast. "For future reference, Miss Swan, the heart is here, and not in the region of the belly button." 

And with that, she shoves it back into Emma's hand, stalks to the Mercedes, and drives off, Henry waving sadly at Emma as they turn in the road.

A few seconds later, a truck pulls up, and a man and two women get out. They stop when they see Emma, still dumbstruck, stick-thingy in hand and standing in a pile of ashes.

"Oh my god, it is her! Emma!"

The woman with the short black pixie cut and the twee outfit rushes towards her and hugs her. Emma tries to extract herself and not poke either of them with the pointy end of the stick.

"Erm, have we met?"

The woman sobs at that. The man, a tall muscular guy who looks like he wouldn't be out of place in an outdoor clothing advert, comes up behind the woman and takes her in his arms. "Emma," he says softly, "we're you're parents."


	2. Part 2

They end up in a diner called ‘Granny’s’. The woman called Mary Margaret was extremely keen for Emma to follow them back to their apartment but Emma doesn’t think that following these people into a non-public space is a good idea. 

Ok, so maybe they know about the baby blanket and the exact spot where Emma was found, but Emma’s pretty sure that was in the newspaper back then. And, ok, there’s the picture the guy called David shows her of a baby with blonde fuzzy hair wrapped in the blanket, but they could have just made that from the description in the paper, and it's not like Emma has a lot of baby pictures of herself to compare the photo too.

And besides, this is crazy. These people look like they’re in their mid-twenties. They might even be younger than Emma. 

But with Regina’s cider still churning inside her, the weird looking guy disappearing into thin air, and now these people claiming to be her parents, Emma has decided that it’s probably best to call it a night and drive back in the morning. And to have another drink.

They are served by a girl who everyone seems to call ‘Red’. Which rings a bell for Emma. “Hey, aren’t you Henry’s babysitter?”

Red, who like everyone else in the dinner, has been openly gawking at Emma ever since they all sat down in the booth, seems startled that she’s being spoken to. “Erm, yeah.” She passes Emma the beer she ordered. “You know Henry?”

“Yeah, that’s kind of why I’m in town,” she explains. “The kid found me today. Turns out I’m his birth mom.”

“ _What?_ ” David exclaims. Mary Margaret chokes on her gin and tonic.

“Yeah,” Emma nods, “I know, it’s pretty crazy.”

"You're Henry's mother?" Mary Margaret asks shrilly.

The woman that was introduced to Emma as ‘Blue’ (and does everyone in this town just have colours as their names?) pipes up for the first time. “As disturbing as that information is, we have important matters to attend to. Where is your Watcher, Emma? Did he come to town with you? And why on earth has it taken you so long to get here?”

“My what?” Emma has no idea what this woman is talking about, but her accusatory tone is making Emma feel defensive. “Look, lady, I think you might have me confused with someone. I only came here to bring Henry home. Tomorrow I’m going straight back to Boston.”

“What do you mean, back to Boston?” a short guy in the next booth shouts, giving up all pretence that he is not listening in to their conversation. “I thought she was supposed to be the Slayer?”

“Settle down, Leroy,” Blue says sternly. “Let us handle this.”

“Emma,” Mary Margaret says, close to tears again. “When we sent you over the town line, there was a boy with you called August. He was supposed to train you and bring you home.”

“August?” Emma suddenly feels a headache coming on. “August Booth?”

“Yes!” Mary Margaret nods. “Where is he?”

“Hopefully locked up somewhere,” Emma says darkly. “That guy has stalked me for years now! I met him when I was about fourteen and ever since then he just kind of pops up, no matter where I go. He’s super creepy. I had to get a restraining order.”

“You got a restraining order against your _Watcher_?” Blue screeches.

Emma rolls her eyes. “Ok, this is pretty weird, and to be honest I don’t really want to sit here and listen to you defend this creep, so I’m just going to go. Is there, like, a motel or something in town?”

“Emma, wait,” says David, putting his hand on her arm. Emma jerks her arm back and he raises his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Look, I’m sorry, this must be lot. We just never thought that when you came back here that he wouldn’t have told you about us or about where you come from. It’s a lot to take in for all of us. We’ve been waiting for a very long time for you.” 

"How much training have you had?" Blue asks, undeterred by Emma’s dark look. “At what age did you start slaying?”

Emma begins to wonder whether there might be something wrong with Blue and whether there is a subtle way to ask David and Mary Margaret that across the table. “Erm, I have my GED? Although I did get it in juvie, but it still counts, right? Not really sure what you mean by ‘slaying’, but I’ve been a bounty hunter for a couple of years now if that helps?”

“This is a disaster,” Blue groans, burying her head in her arms. “She’s completely untrained. She has now knowledge of the force of evil. She’s not brought her Watcher. And she’s given her son to the most dangerous dark witch alive.”

“Ok, that’s pretty harsh about Regina.” Emma feels like she should stick up for Regina, especially since she isn’t even there to defend herself. “She seems like a bit of a hardass but dark witch is a little bit over the top, don’t you think?”

“Have you ever even seen a vampire?” 

“Is this some sort of giant roleplay game you're all playing?” Emma asks. Because that would kind of sort of make sense with all the vampire talk. “It's nice of you all to include me but I’ve never really been into that, and to be honest I’m not that great with blood, so vampires wouldn’t really be my thing.”

“But you slayed one tonight!” Mary Margaret says eagerly. “When we found you, you were holding a stake and there was a pile of ashes!”

Emma pulls Henry’s stick out of her belt where she shoved it earlier. “You mean this thingy? Henry gave it to me when this creepy guy attacked us. Not sure if you know him around here, I think he’s got some sort of deformed forehead? Anyway, Regina was totally kickass, she came out of nowhere and poked guy with this stick thing and he just disappeared.”

Mary Margaret, David, and Blue exchange long looks. Then Blue abruptly gets to her feet. “Come on, Slayer,” she says impatiently. “It’s time to teach you some things about your destiny.”

***  
Emma should probably be more worried about the fact that she is currently underground with three complete strangers who seem to be kind of delusional, without a weapon or her phone. But to be honest she’s pretty sure she could take all three of them, and they seem nice enough. It also doesn’t seem like Storybrooke has much in the way of bars to hang out in, so going into the mines with her new pals might be the most entertaining things this town has to offer for all Emma knows.

It’s weirdly hot. Emma takes off her jacket soon after they start walking but she’s still sweating when they turn a corner and Blue, who is leading their little group, suddenly stops.

Emma comes up behind her and feels her mouth fall open.

It’s like there’s a hole in the air. That’s the best way she can describe it. It’s swirling and red hot and when Emma looks at it she kind of feels like she's going to fall down into the glowing depths, but that makes no sense because the whole thing is hanging _in mid air_.

“What the hell is this?” She kind of wishes that she'd paid more attention in science class because she has no memory of ever learning anything that would explain what she's seeing right now. She slowly circles the thing but on the other side it looks exactly the same.

"This," Blue says grimly, "is the hell mouth.”

Emma knows that these people are either messing with her or crazy, but even though she knows that rationally, it still feels like there's something weird in the cavern, something dark. It makes her shiver even though it's hot and sticky down here.

And then, before anyone can say anything else, someone else stumbles into the cavern. It's a woman, except she's got the same strangely deformed forehead as that man that Regina chased off earlier.

“I see dinner is served,” she says, and lunges at Mary Margaret. David jumps into action, pulling the woman off, but undeterred she jumps at him as well. 

Emma leaps in and grabs the woman, punching her as hard as she can. The woman flies back into the wall and Blue steps between them, a giant cross in her hand. “Be gone,” she yells, and the woman hisses but turns on her heels and disappears.

“I see we have a lot of work to do,” Blue sighs as Emma. “Why didn't you try to stake her?”

“You're seriously telling me that that was a vampire?” Emma says incredulously. 

“How can you still doubt?” Blue exclaims. “You're standing at the mouth of hell. You just saw a vampire. Surely you must sense the truth inside you?” 

And even though Emma is shaking her head, her gut, which has never failed her before, is saying that this is the truth. There is something dark and evil in this cavern. And the guy that Regina stabbed earlier didn't run away; he turned to dust. Emma rubs her forehead. “This is crazy.”

“I think you should get some sleep,” Blue says, “and I will convene the council to assign you a new Watcher.”

Emma suddenly realises how exhausted she is and nods. She's going to sleep, and when she wakes up this is all going to have been a bad dream.

***

Emma wakes up early, which she blames on the lack of city traffic noise and the birds outside her window that started chirping at sunrise and which haven't shut up yet.

Still, she's had time to think, and has reached the conclusion that there must be a reasonable explanation for what happened yesterday.

She's still trying to figure out what that could be when there's a knock on her door. She quickly finishes pulling up her trousers and opens the door. “Henry, hi!”

“Morning Emma,” he says cheerfully. “I brought you a bearclaw!”

Emma's stomach growls and she lets him in. “Don't you have school?”

Henry nods. “I'm on my way there now. I told mom I wanted to get snack from Granny's, just didn't mention it was for you.”

“You are going to get me into a lot of trouble, kid,“ Emma sighs. “I'd better walk you to school.”

Henry acquiesces with a shrug. “So how did it go? Did you meet them? Your parents?”

“You know about David and Mary Margaret?”

Henry nods. “Mrs Blanchard is my teacher, and David runs the animal shelter.” 

“Well, I'm sure they're lovely, but it's pretty much impossible for them to be my parents, kid.”

Henry sighs. “Mom said that we need to give you time to believe, because you didn't grow up knowing about magic and stuff.”

Emma's not sure Regina should really be encouraging this fantasy of Henry's but then maybe she just doesn't want him to have another reason to resent her. 

They reach the school and Emma sighs when she sees Mary Margaret standing at the gate. “Emma!” She waves at her eagerly.

Emma reluctantly steps closer. “Morning.”

“Emma, I just wanted to say that David and I are sorry if we overwhelmed you yesterday. We're going to give you some space to process and let you deal with the Slayer thing first. But if you ever want to talk to us or if you have questions, we're here for you.” She smiles wetly. “We're just so glad you're home.”

“Erm, thanks,” Emma says, deciding not to mention her plan to head straight back to Boston once she gets back to her car. “See you around.”

Emma's beautifully planned getaway hits a slight snag when she gets into the bug and it won't start. Instead there's a bang and a lot of smoke.

“Need some help?” Emma turns round and finds the town sheriff behind her. “Graham Humbert, Sheriff.”

She shakes his hand. “Emma Swan.”

"Let me call Mike, he owns the garage, and see if he can get someone out to look at this for you.”

“Thanks.”

Mike is a nice guy, but Emma is still pretty annoyed when he tells her that it's going to be at least a week before he can get the part for her car.

“What am I going to do in Storybrooke for a week?” she asks Graham in exasperation.

He shrugs. “Well, a little birdie told me that you're a bounty hunter? I could do with a bit of help round the station.”

“Help you get down the high crime rate?” Emma mocks, but she still follows him, mainly out of boredom. 

The sheriff station is quaint. That's the only word to describe it. There's a couple of desks and three cells at one end, but it's so typically small town that Emma is already yawning when Graham passes her a cup of mediocre coffee.

“So what do you do to pass the time around here?”

Graham shrugs. “I do a lot of reading,” he says.

“What are you reading at the moment?” Emma picks up the book open on his desk. “ _The Encyclopaedia of Demons of New England_. Please tell me you're not also part of this weird ‘vampires are real we live on the hell mouth’ cult?”

Graham smiles apologetically. “I guess this isn't a good time to mention that the Council has assigned me to be your new Watcher?”

***

The problem with this town, Emma decides, is that everyone is so nice. In Boston, if someone came up to her and started talking about vampires and demons and stuff, she would make a wide berth around them. But everyone in Storybrooke, apart from apparently all being in on this conspiracy theory, is super nice.

Like, ok, Graham seems to think he has been chosen to train Emma in the art of fighting vampires, but when Emma explained that she wasn’t really into that, he was fine with dropping it and just having a normal workout. 

There’s apparently not much of a gym in Storybrooke, so they shove the desks to the wall and work out in the station. Emma borrows some ‘Storybrooke Sheriff’s Department’ sweats and Graham digs out some foam pads, and they have a pretty good session.

Emma is a lot stronger than Graham is, and for once, he doesn’t make her feel bad for showing it. Usually when she works out with men, they get super grumpy if she flips them onto their backs one too many times, but Graham seems delighted the more she beats him up.

Eventually, though, Emma starts to feel bad, especially since she hasn’t even broken a sweat and Graham is starting to look like he’s fading. 

“That was fun,” she says, smiling. “Thanks! I haven’t really had much time for the gym lately.”

“You’re in pretty good shape,” Graham says, grinning, and wiping his forehead on his towel. “Now we only have to work on your slaying technique. I hear you had trouble finding the heart yesterday.”

Emma looks at him suspiciously. “Have you been talking to Regina?”

Graham shrugs, smiling guiltily. “The major keeps the sheriff’s department on a pretty tight leash.”

“So what's the deal with Regina?” Emma asks, trying to sound casual. “I mean, she doesn't really seem like the type to be all into this vampire role play you guys have got going on here.”

Graham shakes his head, looking amused. “You've seen two vampires and a portal to hell and you still don't believe?”

Emma crouches on the corner of a desk. “I mean, OK, yeah, there's been some weird stuff that I can't really explain,” she admits, “but that doesn't mean I have to believer in vampires.”

“Ok, how about this,” Graham says, still smiling. “You join me on my evening patrol tonight. I'm going to try and catch the one that got away yesterday, and when we find her, you can see for yourself what you believe, ok?”

Emma shrugs. “Well, sounds better than sitting in my room by myself watching some crappy lifetime movie, so ok.” Maybe this will finally explain why everyone in this town is so weird.

***

Emma is walking back to the B and B for a short nap before her patrol with Graham when she hears her name being called.

It's Henry, just coming out of school.

"Hey, kid, where are you headed?" she asks.

Henry smiles at her. "I've got my piano lesson and then Mom and I always go to Granny's for dinner. Hey, do you want to come?"

Emma's touched by the invite but shakes her head. "I'm going on patrol with Graham later. Apparently he's going to convince me that vampires are real."

Henry nods wisely. "Probably a good idea. Mom says slaying on a full stomach is not advisable."

Emma laughs. She's in a good mood and decides she can humour his monster fantasy for a bit. "Noted. So how much trouble are you in for running off to Boston?"

Henry's smile disappears. "I'm grounded for two weeks. And no PlayStation either."

Emma tries to look sympathetic, but honestly that seems like a pretty reasonable punishment for running off to Boston. "That sucks."

Henry shrugs. "It was worth it to get you to Storybrooke."

Emma is embarrassed. "Seriously?"

Henry nods solemnly. "You're the only one who can fight the demons from the hell mouth when it opens. Plus you need to keep an eye on my mom. You have to make sure she doesn't got evil again."

"What do you mean, again?" Surely confiscating a games console for a few weeks doesn't count as 'evil'?

"Before the curse. Mom was into really dark magic and it took the Slayer, you know, the one before you, and Rumplestiltskin to stop her."

"What kind of name is Rumplestilstkin?" Emma asks incredulously. Although, she she thinks, at least it isn't a colour this time.

"He calls himself Mr Gold now, but he's an immortal demon who had magic and visions about the future. He made unbreakable magic contracts with people. The Slayer before you put a cuff on him though so he can't do magic anymore. I'm not sure about the visions, though, do you think they come under magic?"

Emma shrugs, trying to keep track of all of this information. "Sounds pretty complicated."

Henry shakes his head. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. And I'll help you."

She smiles genuinely at that. "I don't doubt that. Just, don't get your hopes up that I'll be around for too long, kid. To be honest the only reason I'm still here is because my car wouldn't start this morning."

Henry looks at her intensely. "Have you got a boyfriend, Emma?"

Emma chokes on air. "What?!" she splutters.

"Or a girlfriend. Whatever. Do you? Mom said that might be the reason you're so keen to get back to Boston. Because if that's the reason, you could just help mom close the hell mouth and then they could totally come and live here with you."

"Your mom thinks I have...no, I don't have either, Henry. Erm, why does your mom think that?"

Henry shrugs. "I don't know. She just said that might be it."

Emma wonders if it would be weird to ask Henry to tell his mom that she's single. Probably yes. She's still tempted.

Before she can, though, Henry announces that they've reached his music teacher's house and waves at her. "See you tomorrow Emma," he smiles.

Emma waves back. It's weird. She sometimes imagined that he would find her, but she never imagined it would be like this. Not this easy. Ok, so he's obsessed with monsters, but what 11 year old isn't? And he's funny and well raised and smart. He got really lucky with Regina. Emma wonders if she'll ever have the guts to say that to Regina's face.

***

Emma's back at the station just as the sun is beginning to set. Graham is just clearing his desk so Emma hovers by the door.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" A figure in a red coat rushes past Emma and into one of the cells.

"Cutting it fine tonight, Red," Graham admonishes, pulling a key from his pocket and locking her in. 

"I know, I know, Granny needed help with the dinner rush and I just forgot the time." Red begins taking of her clothes.

"Wow, ok, what is happening?" Emma exclaims in alarm, turning round.

Red laughs behind her. "Oops, sorry Emma, I forgot you don't know about this. Let's just say I get a more aggressive time of the month than most girls."

Graham laughs. "That's one way to put it."

"Is this about you telling Henry that you're a werewolf?" Emma asks. "Why do you have to be naked?!"

"So the clothes don't rip when I transform " Red replies matter of factly. "Learned that the hard way." 

"Oh, sure," Emma mutters, "how silly of me." 

"Emma, we should really get going," Graham says apologetically. "We need to be at the cemetery before dark."

To Emma's astonishment, they leave a naked Red behind locked in a cell ("trust me, she won't be naked for long") and take the cruiser to the cemetery.

"So is this where it all kicks off with the gangs of Storybrooke?" Emma jokes.

Graham grins back at her. "Something like that." He hands her a stake that looks similar to the one Henry gave her yesterday. "Now hold this, and remember the first rule of slaying: don't get killed."

"I'll try my best," Emma says, holding the stake sceptically.

They leave the cruiser by the side of the road and begin strolling between the grave stones. It's peaceful- there are still some birds singing in the trees although darkness is falling, but the lack of city car noise is still strange to Emma.

She tries to make conversation but is vigorously shushed by Graham, who apparently doesn't like his patrol companion to talk while they walk. 

Emma sulks. This was not how she imagined this was going to be. She figured it would involve a lot more donuts and coffee and less creeping through the graveyard at twilight. 

A branch snaps behind them and they both whip around. 

The woman from last night is behind them, except her face doesn't have the ridges. So it _was_ a mask! But then the woman growls, a strange, unearthly sound, and shakes her head, and suddenly the ridges are back and her teeth seem to grow before Emma's eyes.

Emma stumbles back, fumbling for the stick she Graham gave her.. Beside her, Graham has his at the ready. 

"Cover me," he shouts, before leaping at the woman and slashing at her chest. 

He's fast but the woman is faster. Graham is thrown into a nearby gravestone with a sickening thud. 

Emma quickly lunges at the woman, punching her as hard as she can. The woman is strong. Emma can fell herself actually breaking a sweat which is unusual. Reassuringly, she can hear Graham groaning behind her so at least he's conscious. 

"Emma," she hears him rasp behind her. "Catch!" 

The bottle lands in her hands. It's small and labelled ‘holy water’. 

"Throw it on her!" Graham gasps.

Emma decides now is not the time to doubt. She uncorks the bottle and throws the contents at the woman.

Her aim isn't particularly good; most of the liquid splashes onto a headstone, but the woman gets hit on the arm and it actually starts _smoking_. The woman howls in rage and races into the forest. 

Emma rushes to Graham's side. He's very pale and he's clutching his chest. 

"What's wrong?" she asks, panicked.

"Chest pain," he gasps. "Heart condition."

Emma fumbles for her phone. "Hold on," she says, trying to sound calm, "I'm calling for help."

***

Emma dithers after the ambulance takes Graham to the hospital. The paramedics told her that they would be running tests for the next few hours so there was no point in her coming in the van with them. 

She had promised Graham that she would take the cruiser back to the station, but she can't stop thinking about the woman who attacked them, running through the woods.

What if a curious kid like Henry decides to got for a wander late at night and this woman...thing...whatever she is... attacks them?

Before her head has made a conscious decision, her feet are moving towards the woods.

It's quiet. Every time she steps on a leaf and hears the crackle she jumps, and then realises that she is being ridiculous.

She strolls through the woods for about fifteen minutes without seeing anything, and then out of nowhere, something jumps out of a tree above her and knocks her to the ground.

Her stake flies out of her hand and lands several feet in front of her.

The woman growls and leans down to Emma's neck. Emma uses all her strength to throw the woman off and scrambles forward on her knees, but before she can make it to her stake, the woman grabs her ankles and pulls her backwards.

Getting annoyed now, Emma kicks out with her feet as hard as she can. She's makes it back onto her feet and they begin scrapping.

"Prepare to die, Slayer," the woman smirks at her.

"Erm, yeah, I don't think so," Emma replies, ducking under a punch and using that opportunity to pick up the stake. On the way back up she catches the woman on the chin with her fist and she stumbles backwards and lands on her back.

Anxious not to lose her advantage, Emma quickly follows her, except she's not paying attention to where she's putting her feet and she trips on a root, landing on the woman.

The stake which she is holding up in her hand impales the woman's chest. For a single heartbeat, neither of them move. Then Emma lands on the leafy ground with a thud as the woman below her turns to ash.

"Bravo," a sarcastic voice behind her calls out, accompanied by slow clapping. "A masterful slay. The well known 'trip and stab' technique. Skilfully done."

Emma scrambles to her feet, looking between Regina and the pile of ashes at her feet in shock. "Oh my god," she says breathlessly. "Oh my god."

Regina advances. "Your first slay, I take it? As a tip, I would suggest keeping hold of the stake. If you let go, the stake turns to ash as well, and the cost quite builds up."

"You were telling the _truth_?" Emma exclaims. "You and Henry and Blue and Mary Margaret." She groans. "Oh my god. Is that true as well? They're really my, my..."

"I'm afraid so," Regina says sympathetically. "If it makes you feel any better, at least you don't seem to have inherited your mother's fondness for crocheted cardigans. Although I'm not sure that jacket is any better."

"Hey," Emma says weakly, "this jacket and I have been through a lot together. And anyway, what's going on with your outfit?" Regina is wearing running leggings, an expensive looking fleece, a body warmer, and a headband, all in black. She looks like a hot soccer mom that Nike might put on their adverts, if the sport they were encouraging people to 'just do' was committing cat burglary.

"You will find that it's much easier to hunt vampires and not be hunted _by_ vampires if you're not dressed like a homing beacon," Regina replies snippily.

"You're hunting _those things_ as well?"

Regina shakes her head. "You're going to need to be able to say it, Emma, or you'll be a poor excuse for a Slayer. And yes, I am. I heard you and Sheriff Humbert were going hunting, and while the Sheriff is very capable, my reports on this particular vampire were that she was extremely aggressive and difficult to slay." She looked around. "Where is Graham?"

"Hospital," Emma replies. "He was having chest pains, might be to do with his heart condition. They said he should be ok though."

Regina shakes her head. "My, my, you certainly run through your Watchers. Restraining orders, heart attacks..."

"Maybe if my Watchers were less stalkery and older than a child I might not go through them so quickly," Emma grumbles back.

"You are preaching to the choir," Regina replies. "I was strongly against August being your Watcher. But you will find that the Council values its traditions and ways above all else." She looks hard at Emma. "Including your life. If I may give you some advice, trust your Watcher, but don't follow their council blindly. Your Watcher will want the best for you, but they in turn are guided by the Council, which looks at the world from a much wider perspective. They're not interested in individual Slayers."

They begin walking together, almost automatically. "You seem like you know a lot about this stuff," Emma says.

Regina doesn't reply, picking her way through the woods.

"What, you're not speaking to me now?"

"Don't be childish," Regina says, "I was merely waiting to see if there was a question in that statement."

Emma rolls her eyes. "My question is, why? Are you a, a _Watcher_ too?"

It might be Emma's imagination, but it seems like Regina stiffens at the question. There's a long pause, the she says "I was trained, for a while, by a Watcher. And, as I'm sure you've heard from Henry, I'm a witch. Plus," she says imperiously, "I'm one of the only people in this town that feels the need to read the background magical texts. Under Blue's leadership of the Council, basic magical training seems to have become rather slack. Take Graham for example. His physical skills are excellent, but his theoretical foundation is sorely lacking."

Emma wants to ask more about the whole being a witch thing, but it seems pretty clear that Regina is done with that topic.

She could ask more about Mary Margaret and David, but at the moment she's still having trouble processing the whole vampires thing. The P word seems like something she needs a good nights sleep and a bottle of Jack to consider.

Instead she says "So do you hunt vampires every night?"

"Certainly not. I'm the mayor, and a mother. I don't have time for this every night!"

Emma nods. 

"There is a rota," Regina explains. "Well, there is a rota, and the there is the unofficial revised rota. Let's just say some members of the official rota aren't as _effective_ at slaying as others." She gives Emma a meaningful look. "Your father, for instance, prefers beheading with a sword to slay, and that is just a very ineffective method."

Emma pulls a face, both at the the image and at the word 'father'. "Please don't call him that," she says.

"Not ready to confront that reality?" Regina asks. "I don't blame you. If I could, I would avoid Mary Margaret Blanchard and her idiot husband for the rest of my existence. Unfortunately, the universe is intent on punishing me. This is the second year in a row that she has been assigned as Henry's teacher."

Keen to get the topic of conversation onto a more neutral topic, Emma quickly asks "What happened to the last Slayer? Henry mentioned her to me."

Regina stops and looks at Emma with an unreadable expression on her face. She pauses again for a long time before she says "Mulan was killed by a vampire who calls himself Captain Hook. He was some sort of pirate before he was killed and sails on a magical ship. Mulan had been fighting Rumplestiltskin and was weakened when she encountered Hook. She let her guard down for one minute, her Watcher was distracted, and that was all it took."

Emma gulps. "So, there's only one Slayer?"

Regina gives her a look that seems almost gentle. "Yes. One girl is chosen out of every generation when the old Slayer dies. I won't lie to you, Emma, the life of a Slayer is difficult and full of sacrifice. And it usually is fairly brief. Before she was chosen, Mulan had a girlfriend and a promising athletics career ahead of her. And then she was called, and she had to put her duty ahead of everything else. Aurora ended up marrying Mulan's best friend. She couldn't handle coming second to the duty."

"Gee, thanks for the pep talk," Emma jokes, trying to lighten the mood. 

Regina rolls her eyes in response. "Fine. I will keep my advice to myself."

"I mean, that wasn't really advice," Emma says, "but I guess I do appreciate your help. Even if I'm kind of having trouble wrapping my head around it all."

They've reached the edge of the woods, and Emma realises that they've looped around and reached the cruiser.

"Hey, do you want me to give you a ride?" she asks. 

Regina nods in acquiescence. "You can drop me off at the station. It's almost light and I need to let out Ruby."

"Who's Ruby?" Emma asks, unlocking the car.

Regina sighs. "You know her as Red. Though why she still goes by that ridiculous nickname years after she lost that cloak, I have no idea."

A shiver goes down Emma's back. "So, she's really a werewolf?"

Regina nods. "Yes. But if you're concerned about Henry, it only manifests three days a month. You can rest assured I would not expose Henry to that kind of danger."

Emma shakes her head. "I know, that's not what I meant. It's just a lot to process."

Emma tries to prepare herself on the drive over, but it's still a shock when they get to the station and in the cell with Red's clothes there's a huge wolf, growling and baring its yellow teeth at them. Regina doesn't seem at all impressed; she merely moves to the windows and opens the blinds so that the emerging rays of dawn begin to flood the office.

Emma can't take her eyes off Red. As the sun turns the office pink, the fur on Red seems to retreat back into her skin. Her neck shrinks back, her torso narrows, and her hair tumbles down her back. And, as suddenly as the transformation begin, it's over.

"Eyes up here, Emma," Ruby says, amused at Emma's open mouthed stare.

"You'll have to excuse Miss Swan," Regina says as Emma quickly turns away to let Red get dressed, "she's had quite a night."

Red laughs. "No worries." 

Regina unlocks the cell and then looks at her watch. "I am going to pick Henry up from your grandmother and take him to school," she says. She turns to look at Emma. "I trust you'll manage not to get yourself killed?"

"First rule of slaying," Emma manages weakly, and watches Regina sweep out of the door with more grace than should be legal after a long night of trekking through the mucky woods looking for demons.

"Regina's quite something," Red says, amused, noticing Emma's look.

"Yeah, she really is," Emma replies. "She really is."


	3. Part 3

Emma steps out of the station, feeling a bit dazed. She knows she should be tired after the night she's had but exhaustion hasn't caught up to her yet.

"Emma!"

She turns around and sees David crossing the road to meet her, accompanied by an assortment of dogs on leads. 

Her heart sinks. She is not ready to talk to him or Mary Margaret yet.

"Hey," he beams at her. "How's it going?"

"Fine," she says quickly, backing away. "I was just heading off though so I guess I'll see you."

"Wait," he frowns. "Is everything ok? I know you were slaying with Graham last night. He's going to be ok, you know."

Emma nods. "Yeah I know, thanks."

David follows her as she backs away. "Emma? What's the matter? Did something happen?"

Emma shakes her head. "Nothing. It's just, I was in the woods with Regina and there was this vampire-"

"Regina," David says darkly. "I should have known. What did she do?"

"Nothing!" Emma says in frustration. "But I've seen a vampire now and I, I slayed one, and I guess I'm starting to believe and-"

"And you believe that we're your parents," David finishes. "Emma, I swear to you, if we had had any other choice we would have kept you."

"I'm not ready to talk about this," Emma says, trying to be firm. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

"Emma!" he calls after her, but she hurried round the corner before he can follow her.

***

"Emma!"

She flinches, but it's only Henry, standing by the school gates. She quickly looks around but Mary Margaret is no where in sight.

"What's up, kid?"

Henry looks worried. "Mom made me stay at Granny's last night. And I called the house in the night and she didn't pick up. She _always_ picks up when I'm not home." He lowers his voice. "I think she was out doing something evil. Emma, you have to help me. We can't let her go dark again!"

Emma crouches down. "Hey, listen to me," she says, trying to be soothing. "Your mom was with me last night. She wasn't plotting, she was helping me slay a vampire. Or, well, I guess she was critiquing my technique."

"She was with you?" Henry exclaims sceptically. 

Emma nods. "Why didn't you ask your mom?"

"I thought she'd lie to me," he says sullenly.

"Well, maybe give her a bit more credit than that," Emma suggests as gently as possible.

The bell rings and Emma sees Mary Margaret appear at the door. "I have to go kid, but have a good day in school, ok?"

She hurried away before Mary Margaret has time to take two steps in her direction.

***

Storybrooke Hospital is small and it doesn't take Emma long to get directed to Graham's room. 

He's sitting upright, which Emma takes as a good sign, and he smiles when Emma walks in. 

"Hey," Emma says gently, and then notices a young woman in the chair next to the bed. She recognises her as the one who was locking up the library the day she brought Henry back.

"Hi, Emma," Graham smiles. "Have you met Belle French? She's the librarian and also one of the smartest Watchers on the Council."

Belle makes a gesture as if to wave away the compliment. "Graham exaggerates. Nice to meet you, Emma."

Emma nods back at her. "Sorry to interrupt, I was just passing and thought I'd come and see how you are."

Belle gets to her feet. "I'm going to get a cup of coffee and let you two chat."

"Oh, please don't leave on my account," Emma says quickly, but Belle shakes her head.

"I need my caffeine kick," she replies.

Graham looks her over once Belle is out of the room. "So, did you get the vamp?"

"How did you know I went after her?" Emma asks.

Graham gives her a look. "Come on, Emma, it's obvious that you're a pretty stubborn person. That's not a bad thing," he adds quickly, seeing Emma's shoulders rise defensively. "In fact, it's a necessary trait for a Slayer to have."

Emma slumps into the seat vacated by Belle. "Well, I got her. Although, that was more of an accident."

"Mmmh," Graham says, and Emma can tell he's trying not to laugh.

"You know!" she accuses. "Did Regina tell you?"

Graham gives in and lets out a laugh. "Ok, yes, I'm sorry. She called me about half an hour ago. But she did say that you probably would have got her even if you hadn't flattened her."

Emma shakes her head. "I just can't even wrap my head around this. I mean, vampires are real? What the hell!"

Graham laughs again. "I know it's a lot to wrap your head around. When I first came here I didn't believe for ages either."

"How long ago was that?" Emma asks.

"I was twelve," he replies. "The Head Watcher at the time sent Blue to my father's house to explain that I'd been chosen to be trained. They took me here with the other Watchers in training and I finished school one Storybrooke."

Emma's mouth falls open. "Twelve!" 

"You forget that most Slayers are called between fourteen and eighteen," Graham explains. "This isn't exactly the kind of line of work with long life expectancies, so we start training early. Gives us lots of back up."

Emma rubs her head, which is starting to hurt again. "So then why did no one tell me about this when I was that age?"

"August was supposed to," Graham says darkly, "but he had barely started his training when the Council picked him. I'm guessing you two got separated early on and he lost track of you. And then he had trouble convincing you."

"In my defence, he acted pretty crazy," Emma says quickly. 

"He should never have been given that responsibility," Graham says. "Regina was right."

Emma desperately wants to ask more about Regina but she's worried Graham will tell her that she's been asking questions.

She's saved from herself by Belle coming back into the room, two large takeaway cups of coffee in her hands. She hands one to Emma. "I heard you were out slaying all night," she smiles.

"Thanks!" Emma says genuinely.

"So, Graham, have you told her?"

"Told me what?"

"Well, I've got to stay for observation while they run some tests," Graham says, "and I might need surgery. The Council has voted that Belle should temporarily take over as your Watcher."

"Oh." Well, Belle seems nice enough, although she doesn't exactly look thrilled at her new job.

"Are you too tired for some training?" Belle asks her.

Emma shrugs. "I'm feeling ok, actually. I'll probably crash in a couple of hours though."

They say goodbye to Graham and head to the library. Before Emma has even sat down she can tell that this isn't going to involve punching anything.

"Let's go over some background information," Belle says. "What do you know about the Slayer?"

"Apart from that that's apparently me? Not a lot." Emma laughs but Belle frowns.

"I've never had a complete beginner before," she says. 

"You've had other Slayers?" Emma asks.

"One," Belle says, a faraway look in her eyes. "But she knew she was a Potential from the age of seven and had been carefully trained. By the time she was activated, Mulan was the perfect warrior."

Emma feels a bit intimidated. "Sorry you're stuck with me."

"Don't be silly," Belle says. "All Slayers are different. We just have to find the best approach for you."

"I do have a question," Emma says. "How much time does this normally take up? Because I should get back to Boston asap and I know you guys have that hell mouth problem that I apparently have to do something about..."

"Emma," Bella says, sounding shocked. "You can't _leave_! It's your sacred duty to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of evil. It's not a job, it's not part time, and it's not optional. This is your life now."

Emma stares at her. "Erm, I think I have a say in that."

Belle looks at her sympathetically. "I'm really sorry, Emma. This should have been explained to you a long time ago so you could prepare and I know it seems unfair that you're not given a choice in this, but you were chosen for a reason. You can't run from this, Emma. You can't run from your destiny."

Running sounds pretty damn attractive to Emma right now. She feels like something heavy is sitting on her chest. _Fate. Destiny._. Emma has spent her life avoiding being trapped by things, leaping from one place to another for fear of putting down roots that she can't rip out. And now, within the space of a few days, she's apparently got this duty that she can't escape from, not to mention a son, and parents....

"You're not alone," she hears Belle say. "You have Graham, and the rest of the Watchers. And Mary Margaret knows so much about this as well, she'd love to help you." 

"Oh my god, stop," Emma groans, head in her hands. "Please. Just, stop."

"Don't you know how lucky you are?" Belle says angrily, suddenly standing up. "You're the oldest Slayer on record. You've been able to have a life. You've had a child. You've seen the world. Do you even know how many Slayers in the past fifty years haven't even graduated from high school? Mulan was only twenty six when she died, and she was one of the oldest Slayers we've ever had. She never got to have a job, or get married, or have a child. You've at least lived!"

Emma stands up too, inexplicably close to tears. "Well I'm sorry! I'm sorry my parents apparently thought it was ok to leave me alone by the road rather than explaining any of this to me. I'm sorry that instead of going off to Slayer summer camp I bounced from foster home to foster home because nobody wanted me. I'm sorry that I didn't believe the crazy guy who stalked me for fifteen years and broke into my apartment when he said that vampires are real. I'm sorry no one told me about this before now, and that I'm so old, and that I don't live up to your standards. I'm sorry I'm not Mulan! But I didn't choose this! If it was up to me, I'd still be in Boston, blissfully ignorant. I didn't ask for this!" By the end, she's almost shouting.

Belle abruptly moves to the window. After a moment, Emma sees her shoulders shaking and realises that she's crying.

The anger leaves Emma like air escaping out of a deflated balloon. "Hey, are you ok?"

"I'm sorry," Belle says wetly. "I told Blue I wasn't ready for another Slayer, but the Council's word is law." 

"Mulan, your Slayer," Emma begins, not really knowing where she's going with her question.

"It was my fault that she died," Belle says. "I fell in love with the wrong man and believed him when he told me he had changed. And because of that, I was blinded to what he was doing. By the time I realised, it was too late. Mulan was dead."

"I'm sorry," Emma says, patting her arm. 

"I'm sorry too," Belle says. "I'm not comparing you, I swear. And it's not your fault that you haven't been trained, I know that. I just sometimes get so angry when I think about all the ways 'destiny' screws us over."

Emma nods in agreement. That's a statement she can get behind.

***

Belle pulls herself together and begins taking Emma through Vampires 101. Emma learns about stakes and holy water and direct sunlight and beheading ("ok, can I just say ewww, won't be doing that"), and how a vampire can't come in unless they've been invited. 

Emma's head is buzzing. Belle starts talking about some vampires who are infamous and have been around for hundreds of years. One of them is 'Hook', the vampire who killed Mulan.

But when Belle starts talking about the different kinds of demon, Emma holds up her hand, yawning. 

"Sorry," Belle says sheepishly. "I can get carried away sometimes."

"It's fine," Emma says, "but I think I need a break."

Belle begins packing up her books. "We can meet here again tomorrow morning?"

Emma nods. "Yeah ok." She shuffles for a second.

"Is there something else?" Belle asks with a smile.

"Why does everyone think Regina is up to something?" Emma asks, not able to keep her questions in any longer. "Everyone goes on about how she's a witch and stuff but I haven't seen her do anything!"

Belle gives her a thoughtful look, clearly weighing up her answer. "Regina is a very complicated person," she begins. "The reason you haven't seen her do magic is because she can't while she holds the curse in place. It essentially sucks all the magic out of Storybrooke to fuel the freezing curse. And about the other thing you asked, how much has Mary Margaret told you about her history with Regina?"

"Nothing. But people keep making these allusions, including Regina, and I feel like everyone but me knows something here that's quite important."

Belle sighs. "A lot of this is something you should really ask Mary Margaret about. All I'll say is that Regina is a powerful witch, who's not always used her power for good. She and Mary Margaret were in this awful feud for years before the curse. It was only when Mulan put a cuff on Regina to stop her using magic that she came back from the darkness."

"But why was she feuding with Mary Margaret?" Emma asks. "And what made her cast the curse of she couldn't do magic?"

Belle shakes her head. "I really think you should hear this story from someone who knows all the details, Emma." She smiles apologetically. "I promise I'm not trying to be awkward, but you'll find that people in this town are either very anti or very pro Regina. There's not really any middle ground. And I think it's important that we remember all the bad things she did, but also that she saved us with the curse, not to mention the work she's done as Mayor. But if I tell you it will be coloured by my experience."

Frustrated, Emma nods. "Ok, I guess I understand that."

*** 

Emma heads back to the B and B. She's so tired that she only pulls off her jeans and jacket and falls into bed in just her tank top and panties. She's out like a light within seconds.

What feels like moments later, there's a loud knocking on the door. Emma startled awake. The clock on her phone beside her shows that she's been sleeping for six hours and it's mid afternoon.

There's a further knock. "Coming!" Emma shouts in frustration, ripping open the door and coming face to face with Regina.

Regina looks her up and down and Emma suddenly remembers what she's wearing.

Regina clears her throats and raises her eyebrows, but tiny pink spots also appear ok her cheek and neck. 

Emma smirks, standing up more confidently. 

"Can I help you?" Emma says.

Regina clears her throat again. "Yes. Would you like to put on some clothes before we talk?"

Emma steps aside to let Regina in. "No, I'm good thanks."

Regina purses her lips and steps just inside the room, looking ready to bolt. "I've just come from the hospital," she says, looking firmly at Emma's face and not her bare legs. "Graham needs bypass surgery and will not be at work for at least a month. Now I know you are desperate to get back to Boston, but Henry told me about your car troubles and I was wondering whether you would be willing to take over as interim Sheriff while Graham is off. It mainly involves patrolling and making sure no one gets killed by vampires and the like, so you'd be getting paid for what you're doing anyway."

Emma feels her jaw drop a little bit. "You want me to be Sheriff?"

"Interim Sheriff," Regina corrects. "Although we can review after a couple of weeks if you decide you want to stay."

There's a pause. Earlier today, Emma would have freaked out at this offer. But she's still sleepy, and Regina is in her bedroom, dressed in a black pant suit and killer heels and Emma is finding it difficult to think of reasons that she wants to leave Storybrooke.

"Yeah, ok," she find herself saying.

"Really?" Regina looks as surprised as Emma feels about her acceptance. 

"You do know I was in juvie, right?" Emma says quickly. "I mean, those records are sealed but you should probably know that."

Regina raises one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "I think the people of Storybrooke would rather have a former juvenile delinquent Slayer as their Sheriff than someone with a less colourful past who can't keep them safe."

Nerves begin to flutter in Emma's stomach. It suddenly occurs to her how much trust is being placed in her.

"Well, I have to go collect Henry from school," Regina says. "Feel free to drive the squad car, the keys are in the top drawer of the desk in the station. And remember to lock Ruby in tonight."

With that, she sweeps out, leaving Emma standing startled in her underwear in the middle of the room.

***

Red is on time tonight, and they sit and chat for a couple of minutes before she starts undressing and Emma decides to start her patrol. 

She grabs a couple of the stakes that Belle gave her and heads to the patrol car to drive to the cemetery. She's just getting in when her phone rings. It's Henry.

"Hey kid, what's up?"

"Emma!" Henry exclaims. "Mom has sent me to Ava's house because her book club is coming over!"

Emma waits but there is no more information forthcoming. "Erm, sounds like fun?"

She can practically hear Henry rolling his eyes at her. "Emma, her book club is her _coven_! They're probably planning something now that you're in town. You have to stop them!"

"Henry, we've been over this," Emma sighs. "I don't think your mom is up to anything. Her and her friends probably just want to sit and chat about 'Me before you' or 'Fifty Shades of Grey'."

"Ok, ewww. Also, what kind of book clubs have you been in?!"

"Look, Henry, I think you might be overreacting here."

"You don't believe me," Henry says, sounding disappointed. "

Great, a guilt trip. "Look, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just that there's no evidence. And now that I'm the interim Sheriff, that's kind of what I have to go on."

"She made you Sheriff?" Henry asks, not sounding pleased. "Emma, don't you see what she's doing? She's trying to bribe you so you don't look into her!"

Emma rubs her forehead. The kid sure loves a conspiracy theory but she finds that the idea of disappointing him kind of hurts. 

"Ok, you know what? I'll patrol past your house tonight and keep an eye out for anything evil, ok?"

"Ok," Henry says, appeased. "Call me if something happens!"

***

Mifflin Street is quiet when Emma pulls up opposite the Mills house, but it doesn't stay that way for long. A huge, ostentatious car with personalised number plates pulls up, and three women get out. One of them has the craziest hairstyle Emma has seen so far in traditional Storybrooke: it's half white and half black, and her eyebrows and pencilled in dramatically. Beside her is a very stylish woman with dark hair and a blue dress, and getting out of the back a pale woman with a fiery red coat. They're barely at the door when it opens and Regina greets them, pecking each of them on the cheek as they walk past her. 

Emma sits and waits. She can see a light going on in the front room, but unless she gets out and creeps across the garden to peer in the window that's all she's going to see. She sighs, but can't bring herself to leave.

There's just something about those three women that sets her on edge. The energy emanating from them was like what she felt down in the mines, something powerful and dark.

But even that energy isn't enough to stop Emma's mind from drifting. She thinks about what Graham and Belle said today, about what her life could have been like if August had found her when she was younger, and brought her back here for training. With parents who wanted her.

A knock on the window of her car makes her jump and she quickly winds it down to talk to Regina.

"I think this part of town has been sufficiently patrolled in the past hour, don't you think, Miss Swan?" 

"Oh well, sure," Emma says, trying to sound casual, but obviously failing epically because Regina looks at her suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" Regina asks.

Emma scrambles for an explanation. "Henry thought you might be in trouble."

Regina's face clouds over and her eyes get hard. "Henry was telling you about his theories that I'm evil and that my coven and I are planning to destroy the world."

"That's not exactly what he said," Emma tried to clarify, but Regina's face is like thunder. 

"When did you even talk to him?" Regina asks.

"He called me. He's just worried. Look, maybe if you told him a little of what you're doing he might trust you more?"

"I think I can do without the parenting advice of someone who dumped her child the moment he was born."

Emma can feel her face turn red. "Yeah, well I gave him up and he's still coming to me over you with his problems, so what does that tell you?"

Regina is clenching her fists by her side, trembling with anger.

"I can't believe that I thought you were being honest when you said that you weren't interested in taking Henry from me," she says, voice dangerously low. "It's clear to me now that you are encouraging his theories so that you can step in, the mighty _Slayer_ , and save him from me. Well, guess what, Slayer. _I'm his mother_. I decide what he does and who he sees and where he goes. And from now on, you will not see Henry without my express permission. Do I make myself clear?"

In response, Emma turns the key, barely giving Regina enough time to jump back before she's roaring off.

She's furious and close to tears at the same time. How did that escalate so quickly?

She turns a corner and sees the young pregnant dishwasher from the diner being surrounded by two vampires. She's holding up her cross bravely but they're taking it in turns to circle her, playing with her.

Emma pulls up, grabbing a couple of stakes from the passenger seat, and runs over to them. She kicks the first one into the bushes and grabs the second one by his collar. 

"You arrogant, self-absorbed, mean," she yells, punching him repeatedly, "sexy pant suit wearing, power crazed asshole!"

"Erm, Emma?" the girl calls from the side.

Emma swings around and stakes the second vampire who is running at her. She turns back to the other one. "What is wrong with you?" she yells at him, before ramming her stake into his heart with her whole weight behind it. 

He turns to dust and so does her anger, leaving an empty pit in her stomach.

"Come on, I'll drive you to work," Emma tells the girl.

"Thanks Emma," she says. "Are you ok?" she asks tentatively.

"Peachy," Emma snarls.

The girl, whose name is Ashley, isn't put off by Emma's mood, now that the vampire danger has passed. She tells Emma that she's been nine months pregnant for the past twenty eight years - _yikes_ \- and that her and her boyfriend are having a hard time lately.

By the time they get to the diner, Ashley has even talked Emma into a piece of pie as a thank you.

When they walk in, Emma sees Mary Margaret sitting in one of the booths, bent over a pile of papers with a red pen. Emma hesitated for a brief moment, then flings herself onto the bench opposite.

"Emma!" Mary Margaret sounds delighted.

"We need to talk," Emma says quickly. "I need you to tell me about Regina."


	4. Part 4

“About Regina?” Mary Margaret asks, looking startled.

“I just saw her and she’s, she’s so…” Emma can’t even put into words how infuriated and confused she feels. One minute it felt like they were kind of sort of flirting, and the next minute Regina’s turned venomous.

Mary Margaret looks at her patiently. “Regina can be a little, well, _aggressive_ sometimes.”

“That’s an understatement. Belle said that you two had some sort of feud going on,” Emma says. “Why?”

Mary Margaret sighs. “Feud is a strong word. Beyond some minor disagreements at parent teacher night, we’ve not really had any incidents in decades.”

Emma frowns. “So why did Belle say that I should ask you about it? She said Regina didn’t always use her power for good?”

“Yes, that’s true,” Mary Margaret says, a faraway look on her face now. “Life tried to knock Regina down, and in response she got up and pretty much tried to blast it out of existence.”

“I have no idea what that means,” Emma says. 

“I suppose I’d better start from the beginning. Do you know what a Potential is?”

Emma shakes her head.

“A Potential is a girl in the generation that follows that of the current Slayer, who has been ordained by the Council to be a potential replacement for her once she dies. There is no way to determine conclusively before the Slayer dies who the next Slayer will be, but the Council has ways of determining a group who may succeed her.”

Emma’s mind is racing. “Regina was a potential?”

Mary Margaret nods. “And so was I.”

She tries to hide her surprise, but Mary Margaret sees it.

Laughing, she says, unoffended “I know. You wouldn’t think it to look at me. My mother was a Slayer. And my father was her Watcher. She was much younger than him, but they loved each other so much. My father was heartbroken when the Council determined that I was a Potential. He had watched my mother die and now he had to worry that I would be called and that I would die too.”

Mary Margaret takes a sip of her tea. “My father was the Head Watcher after my mother died, and he asked Blue to take me under her wing and train me, so I would be ready if I was called. Anyway, that was when I was about thirteen. At around that time, a new family moved to Storybrooke. The mother was rumoured to be a powerful witch. And her daughter was another Potential.”

“Regina,” Emma states.

“Regina,” Mary Margaret confirms. “Her mother, Cora, was determined that Regina would be the next Slayer. My father always said that Cora was one of the most dangerous people he ever met. There was no proof that she used her magic for evil, but we all knew that she craved power. She spent a lot of time with Rumplestiltskin, a dangerous magical demon. Cora asked my father to train Regina, but he refused. He didn’t want Cora to gain access to the secrets of the Watchers’ Council through Regina. But then, Regina saved my life.”

Emma looks at her wide eyed. “What happened?”

Mary Margaret shakes her head. “I was young and stupid. I thought that being a Potential meant that I could face vampires alone. I slayed one and was so proud of myself. And then suddenly I was surrounded. There were five or six of them. I thought I was going to die. And then Regina appeared. She had a cross bow and she shot three of them, and then helped me fight and stake the others. After that, I persuaded my father to take her as his pupil.”

“But surely Regina should be grateful to you for doing that!”

Mary Margaret smiles sadly. “That’s what I thought too. I wanted Regina to become like a big sister to me. I would follow her around and ask to train with her. And she let me, but she always seemed so sad. It never occurred to me that Regina might not want to be a Slayer. And then, one day, I saw her sneak out of my father’s house and I followed her. She was meeting a boy.”

Emma feels a completely irrational surge of jealousy. “Who was he?”

“He was an apprentice at the stables,” Mary Margaret recalls softly. “Now, we weren’t allowed to date. They didn’t want to make it harder on us if we were called and had to leave them. But when Regina saw me, she begged me not to say anything, and I kept that promise, at least for a while. I thought it was so romantic, and anyway, I was sure that I would be the one called.”

A bad feeling starts building in Emma’s gut as Mary Margaret’s eyes grow watery. 

“One afternoon, Regina asked me to cover for her, because she was going to meet Daniel. I couldn’t help myself, I followed her. And I saw…I thought I saw him do magic. There was all of this purple smoke and there were sparks and one minute they were right in front of me and the next minute they were hundreds of yards away. I panicked. I couldn’t tell my father because he would be furious with Regina and might stop training her. And he would be angry at me for keeping it from him. So I went to Cora.”

Emma barely manages to suppress a gasp. Mary Margaret looks at her sadly.

“Please don’t think too badly of me, Emma. I’ve had many years to think about what I did, and I know it sounds like an excuse, but I really did think I was helping Regina. I couldn’t have known that her mother would….”

“What did Cora do?” Emma asks, afraid of the answer.

“When I came to dinner that night, my father told me that Cora had slayed a dangerous demon by the stables who had cast a love spell on Regina to get her to run away with him and to stop her from being trained.” Mary Margaret’s voice trembled. “I went to Regina to comfort her. I thought she was upset because the love spell was wearing off. I told her that it was me that told Regina about Daniel. I thought she’d be pleased.”

By now Mary Margaret’s voice is so low that Emma has to lean forward to hear it. 

“Poor Regina,” Emma breathes out, almost against her will. 

Mary Margaret nods. “It was only many years later that I learned the truth, and by that point it was too late. After Daniel died, Regina withdrew. I thought she was just upset about having been put under the spell. It never occurred to me that Cora’s story wasn’t the truth. Anyway, about two years after that, the Slayer died. And then something strange happened. While the Council was deliberating, Cora disappeared without a trace.”

“What happened to her?” Emma asks. 

“Nobody knew for sure until years later. It was only when Regina went dark that we found out she had pushed her through a portal to hell,” Mary Margaret says. “I mean, we all suspected at the time that Cora was a dark witch, and there were signs that she treated Regina very badly, but to be honest no one really knew what she got up to. Sometimes Cora disappeared for weeks at a time and there were rumours that she could travel between realms. But she didn’t come back this time. Nobody thought much of it, we were so sad about the Slayer dying, and excited about the new Slayer being chosen. And then,” and Mary Margaret’s voice becomes choked up, “someone summoned the dark genie of Agrabah to kill my father.” 

Without really thinking about it, Emma reaches out and touches Mary Margaret’s hand, who gives her a watery smile. 

“He was a good father to me. I loved him very much.”

“Was it Regina?” Emma asks, sure of the answer before Mary Margaret nods.

“I’m not sure if she meant to kill him. This was before she could really control her power. Maybe she didn’t know what summoning the genie would do. Anyway, we couldn’t prove what had happened. Mulan, the new Slayer, investigated, but she couldn’t find any evidence and after a couple of weeks, Regina disappeared.

“I met your father shortly after. It was a strange time. I was so sad about father and so happy about David. He had been with someone else for a long time and when they broke up and we finally got to know each other properly, it was like nothing I ever imagined. I had always thought I was going to be the Slayer, but then I knew that that was where I was supposed to be.”

Emma tries not to pull a face. She’s never really believed in all that true love crap and this seems a little sappy. “So what happened to Regina?” she prods.

Mary Margaret shakes her head. “I don’t know exactly. Certainly at some point she was receiving training from Rumplestiltskin. It was him who taught her how to banish Cora. I’m fairly sure he gave her the book that showed her how to summon the genie as well. But at some point they argued and Regina came back to Storybrooke. I don’t know where she had been, but when she got back, oh Emma, it was awful. She had changed so much. Her hair, her eyes, they were coal black. Looking at her made you feel like you were being swallowed up by shadows. It was like some dark demon had taken over her. And she was so powerful and full of grief and rage, and she blamed me. She toyed with me. She separated me and David, always letting us find each other only to tear us apart again. The Council had everyone working to help us but she was always one step ahead.”

Emma can see it in her mind’s eye. The part of Regina she saw earlier, the desperate, terrified, furious part that lashes out at anyone and everyone in her way, taking over. 

“First she put a sleeping curse on me, but David could break it with true loves kiss.”

Emma supresses a gagging noise.

“But then she perfected the curse. She put David under a sleeping curse, and although I could break it, every time I kissed him, _I_ would fall under the curse. It took them over a year to figure out how to break the spell. We weren’t awake at the same time for that whole time.” She takes a deep, shaky breath. “But the worst part was when she was finally caught by Mulan. When they were taking her away to decide what to do with her, I asked her why she did it. And she told me. Until that point, I thought she learned magic _after_ Daniel died. And I realised that I had as good as killed him.”

“Hey, no, that’s on Cora,” Emma points out, “not on you. Ok, so you told a secret, but you didn’t do it so Cora would go and kill the guy.”

“Still, if I imagine what I would do without David,” Mary Margaret says, “I guess I can understand. During that year we were kept apart I could feel myself getting darker and darker. I don’t know what would have become of me if the Watchers hadn’t managed to save us.”

Emma’s mind is spinning. “So Regina was caught and, what, you just let her go?”

Mary Margaret shakes her head. “She had a cuff on that stopped her from doing magic. We cleared her house of all magic stuff and then decided it was easiest to keep her under house arrest for the time being. We only took the cuff off her when the portal opened.”

“But why-“

“Why are you so interested in Regina, Emma?” Mary Margaret asks gently. “Is this about Henry? Are you regretting giving him up? It must be very hard for you,” she says, in a tone that implies she knows what Emma’s going through.

Emma bristles and leans back.

“Regina is a very good Mom to Henry,” Mary Margaret says. “Even after everything that’s happened between us, I can say that honestly. She wouldn’t hurt him.”

“That’s not why I’m asking. And I don’t regret giving Henry up. I was eighteen and in juvie. I couldn’t have raised him. This was his best chance.”

“Emma,” Mary Margaret says, reaching for her. “Don’t you see that’s what we wanted to give you too? Your best chance?”

“I gave Henry to a social worker, who got him adopted,” Emma spits. “You dumped a baby on the highway with an eight year old and drove off. Not the same thing.”

“There was no time!” Mary Margaret cries, tears rolling down her face. “We had to decide right then. And if you had stayed with us you would have stayed a baby forever. Frozen in time _forever_.”

“And we would have been together!” Emma almost shouts back. The diner falls quiet behind her. “And why did you leave me with _August_? Why didn’t you come with me? You picked your true love over your kid, and fine, that’s your choice, but don’t compare us. It’s not the same.”

She stands up and walks out, slamming the door behind her.

***  
She continues patrolling for another hour and then decides to call it a night. She falls asleep quickly but her dreams are dark and ominous, filled with Regina, her hair and eyes jet black and her lips a deep red, surrounded by purple smoke.

Giving up on sleep, she heads down to the diner and encounters Regina and Henry, who are just leaving.

"Emma!" Henry says, delighted.

"Go to the car, Henry," Regina says. 

Henry gives her a stubborn look. "I want to talk to Emma."

"And I want you to get to school on time. Now get in the car while I go pay."

"Emma can walk me to school," he says, jutting his chin forward.

"Miss Swan is busy," Regina says, her voice sharp. "Now you have five seconds to get into the car or there will be serious consequences."

For a moment, Emma thinks Henry is going to dig his heels in, but then he glowers one final time at his mother and stomps out of the diner.

Regina completely ignores Emma and pulls out some bills to hand to Granny at the counter.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Emma asks, trying to sound placating. 

Regina turns to her, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, I just wanted to say sorry for last night. I wasn't spying on you, I was just curious. I've never met a witch before and when Henry said 'coven' I just wanted to see what you were doing. I'm sorry if it came across like I don't trust you. And about what you said, with Henry, I promise you I'm not trying anything. I just, I really like him. He's turned out amazing and I know that's all you and I completely understand that you want to control when I can see him, but I just think it's unrealistic at this point to say that he can't see me."

Regina looks at her with a blank expression. "Apology accepted," she says, and clicks out of the dinner in her patent heels.

"I completely agree, I'm sorry too, would you like to grab dinner some time?" Emma mutters under her breath. "Fine, whatever. Be a total bitch about everything. See if I care."

She continues to rage all the way to the Sheriff's station, where she realises that she has accidentally forgotten to let Red out.

Red is a good sport about it but Emma still feels terrible and promises to do better tonight. 

When Red leaves, Emma turns on the super slow desktop computer (clearly policing isn't high up on the budget priority if they're still using windows xp) and see an email from 'Sidney Glass on behalf of Mayor Mills'.

Emma quickly opens it and sees that it's a calendar invite, recurring every Monday and Thursday, between 3:30 and 5. 'Collect Henry Mills from school for sanctioned activities and take home by 5pm'. 

There's no further comment.

Emma shakes her head, puzzled. She clicks 'reply' and types: 'Thanks! What kind of sanctioned activities did you have in mind?'

Barely a minute later, this time directly from Regina, has Emma has a reply. 'No junk food, no slaying, no weapons.'

Emma smiles. Regina clearly has her priorities sorted.

 

***

Emma has always needed less sleep than other people and she feels remarkably fresh for her short and pretty terrible nap last night when she arrives at the library. 

Belle is already there, looking happier than yesterday and with a huge book in her lap. 

"More Slayer theory?" Emma asks, mood sinking.

"Actually, this has some practical aspects," Belle says, sensing Emma's lack of enthusiasm. She holds up a silk scarf. "I know you can beat people up, but let's see how you do when you have to rely on your senses other than sight."

It's quite fun. Emma's always had superior strength, and there's her special 'power' which helps her to tell when someone is lying, but she's never realised how good her sense of hearing is. 

She's blindfolded in the park (they took it outside after Belle aimed he baseball bat at Emma, who ducked, sending the bat into the children's section) and Belle is trying to hit her. 

Emma gets her almost every time. The more she concentrates, the more she can practically _see_ the bat as it rushes towards her.

They practice for almost an hour, then Belle has to and supervise children's story hour in the library, and Emma heads to the station in case any actual police work has come up. 

There are, shockingly, no messages waiting for her when she gets in. She plays minesweeper for a while, nostalgically clicking on the little squares, and lets her mind go to Regina. Regina, who went dark and murderous the death of the person she loved.

That kind of emotion intimidates Emma. It makes her feel as uncomfortable as when Mary Margaret was talking about her 'true love' with David earlier.

Emma has never felt that before. Sure, she loved Lily and she thought she loved Neal, but both of them let her down, and somehow, although she was sad afterwards, it was like she had always expected them to do something like that.

She's never had the kind of love where you can trust someone to keep loving you even if you aren't awake at the same time as them for over a year. And she's never been so in love that she goes on a crazy magical revenge trip.

Emma's not sure it sounds all that appealing either. The way Mary Margaret talked about it made it seem like it was all out of her control. David was her 'true love', her destiny, and that was that. 

With the whole Slayer thing, Emma decides she has enough destiny for one person, _thank you very much_.

***

She heads to the school and lingers at the corner, hoping to get Henry without seeing Mary Margaret, but the universe hates her.

Mary Margaret catches sight of her and raises her hand in a dejected wave.

Emma feels guilt pooling in her stomach for the way they ended things last night, but at the same time, she was right that what Emma did with Henry and what Mary Margaret did with Emma was very different.

"Emma!" Henry shouts enthusiastically across the playground. 

"Hey kid," she says with a smile, ruffling his hair gently.

"Mom sent me a text at lunch saying you would pick me up. Did you have to argue with her? Did you use your Slayer powers?"

"Wow, wow, slow down there." Emma holds up her hands. "I talked to your mom in the diner this morning and I think she agreed that it's unrealistic to say we can't see each other. She was the one who decided that we could see each other."

Henry frowns. "She didn't tell me that when she drove me to school. I wasn't talking to her and normally she insists on 'talking things out' if one of us is angry but she didn't say anything."

Emma feels the sneaking suspicion that not her plea in the diner, but Henry's silent treatment in the car, was probably the reason Regina has agreed to this.

They walk down Main Street.

"What do you want to do, kid?"

"I can show you my castle? It's where I go to think."

Emma smiles and nods. While they're walking, she can't help herself. "Henry, are you angry with me that I gave you up for adoption?"

Henry looks at her curiously. "No, not really. When I was little Mom used to tell me that she couldn't have a baby so she asked magic to bring her one and along I came to make her happy." His face clouds over. "Then when I was older she said that my birth parents were probably really young or sick or dead but that it didn't matter because she loved me so much. She always said that they would have wanted me to have my best chance, and that she was trying to give that to me."

Emma feels a lump in her throat. "That's true, Henry. I was trying to give you your best chance. I grew up in foster homes, being bounced through the system. I didn't know anything about being a Mom. And I was so young, Henry. I had nothing to offer you."

Henry looks at her. "You're the Slayer. I'm sure we could have managed."

Against her will, Emma feels tears begin sliding down her cheeks. “Henry, I was a mess back then. I wasn’t even ready to look after myself. I couldn’t look after you as well.” She roughly wipes at her cheeks. “The life you have with your Mom, it’s everything I hoped you would have. A big house and anything and everything you want, and a Mom who loves you.”

Henry frowns. “Mom doesn’t love me. I think she only adopted me to keep me away from you.”

Emma shakes her head. “Henry, why do you think that your Mom is up to something?”

“Because she told me you were dead!” he almost shouts. “When I was eight I asked her if I could meet my birth parents and she said she would look for them and then she told me they were dead. Mom is the only one who can leave Storybrooke, except for me. She must have found out who you were because she had those papers I found. And she decided not to bring you here. Maybe she knew all along who you were. You could have been here _years_ ago. Why didn’t she persuade you to come here? What is she planning?”

Emma shakes her head. “I don’t know Henry. Maybe she didn’t know how to find me.”

Henry shakes his head. “She had a list of all your addresses. She knew where you were. Mom can only leave town for 48 hours at a time before the curse breaks, but she would have had time to get you. She clearly had someone following you.” 

It does sound suspicious, but there is one thing that Emma is sure of. “Your Mom loves you, Henry. Regardless of what she may or may not have been doing. She found out you were my kid and she kept you anyway. She loves you more than she loves anything else.”

“Well, she couldn’t have just given me back.”

Emma gives him a small watery smile. “See, the fact that you think that is how I know that I made the right choice. Henry, I was given back seven times when I was little. The name ‘Swan’ comes from a family who said they wanted to adopt me, and then, when the mother got pregnant with their own kid, they gave me back.”

Henry looks horrified. 

“I’m not telling you this so that you feel sorry for me. And you have a right to be angry that Regina lied to you. But maybe you should also consider that she’s not as evil as you think she is.”

Henry’s quiet on the way home, mulling all of this over. When they get to Mifflin Street, Regina opens the door when Henry walks up the path. Emma can tell that she’s been waiting for him. 

Regina looks startled when Henry gives her a quick, firm hug as he walks inside. Over his head, she looks at Emma with an inscrutable expression on her face. Emma raises her hand in a small wave. Regina gives her the tiniest of nods, and then closes the door. Still, it feels like a win.

***

Over the next three weeks, Emma settles into Storybrooke. She doesn’t even rage when Mike continually tells her that the parts for her car are delayed. She sleeps until late morning and then trains with Belle, who soon discovers that Emma has a lot more talent for the practical slaying aspects than the theory. 

On days where she meets Henry after school, she hangs around at the station for a couple of hours until he comes out, and then they hang out in the park or the station, or go to Granny’s for a non-junk food snack. They don’t talk much about Regina or about other heavy topics, but Emma learns all about his friends and his comics and his school, and she manages not to flinch too much whenever he mentions the name ‘Miss Blanchard’.

She receives no less than eight dinner invitations from Mary Margaret and David. She politely declines the first three and ignores the rest. One time, David calls in an emergency at the shelter, and when Emma gets there she sees that he’s let a couple of the dogs out of their cages. They’re all pretty docile, and most of them are just lying around sleeping when Emma gets there. David jabbers on at her while she ushers them back into their enclosures, about how it hadn’t really been their fault that they had to give Emma up, how it was Regina who opened the hell mouth and Rumplestiltkin who reopened it, how Emma shouldn’t blame them for something that was out of their control, how it was her destiny to save the world.

Emma is shaking with tears of rage by the time she storms outside. “For fucks sake, _leave me alone!_ ” she shouts. “And tell Mary Margaret to stop sending me dinner invitations with those fucking birds! Why don’t you get it? I don’t need or want ‘parents’. I’m grown up now. It’s too late. Leave me alone!”

That night, she slays with so much rage that Belle sits even further away than she normally does. It’s fun, patrolling with Belle. She likes to quiz Emma while they walk. Sometimes Red will come with them. “I like to keep my skills fresh,” she says the first night, seeing Emma’s quizzical look. 

Sometimes when they’re out patrolling, Emma feels like there’s someone watching them. A couple of times she’s thought there’s been someone in the bushes or behind a gravestone, but it’s always when she’s fighting a vamp, and by the time they’ve turned to dust, whoever it was is gone. 

They don't just get vampires, of course. Emma never knew that there were so many kinds of demon. Most of them leave Storybrooke in a rage when they realise that it’s a magic free zone, but some of them are pretty dumb and don’t seem to get that concept. She has to violently persuade a water demon who comes up from the sea to transform a person into his mate so he can procreate that he has not in fact disguised himself as a human, but is instead trailing a large trail of sticky blue slime behind him and still looks like a slug. First she punches him in the face after he tries to put his tentacles in her nostrils, and then she shoves Belle’s pocket mirror in his face. She can only assume he’s never seen his own appearance before, because he lets out a horrified sound and disappears back into the sea.

On one of the evenings, Blue comes to watch them patrol, a large cork clipboard in her hands. Belle says she's grading both of them. 

Emma tries to forget she's there, even though Blue disapprovingly clears her throats a couple of time, like when Emma calls the vampire couple she's fighting 'blood sucking motherfuckers', and when she accidentally misses the heart on the woman and her stake breaks off stuck inside the vamp.

She gets her eventually though, and after Belle quizzes her on some of he slaying methods she's learned Blue trots off back to the convent.

They get their report the next day. Emma gets a note to 'use more appropriate language when slaying - think of the kids you might be saving'. Belle gets told to teach Emma some basic anatomy.

"If she wants slaying without swearing, she can come down here and fucking do it herself," Emma replies when Belle reads her the report. Belle just laughs.

"This is nothing. You're actually pretty lucky. If a Slayer lives until her eighteenth birthday, it's tradition to drug them so they lose their enhanced skills and senses, and then lock them in a house with a vampire, who they have to kill. It's pretty grim. Mulan killed hers by tricking him into drinking holy water."

Emma is horrified. "That's disgusting!"

Belle shrugs. "The Council likes the make sure the Slayer is the best she can be, for all our sakes. That's why Watchers aren't supposed to get too attached."

"Still, pretty harsh." Emma likes the Council less and less the more she hears about it.

***

 

Another night, when they're stalking a demon that likes to suck the life out of children through the graveyard, Emma sees three figures watching her from the vicinity of one of the largest crypts. She recognises them as Regina's 'book club'. Sure enough, as soon as Emma jumps on the demon and thrusts the gilded dagger into his neck, she sees Regina emerging from the crypt, talking to her friends. 

Emma struggles with the demon for several more minutes, then, when he's finally been subdued by the dagger, she drops to the ground, wincing in disgust as the demon dissolves into green goo all over her. When she turns around, Regina and the other women are gone.

Other than that brief sighting, Emma rarely sees Regina beyond glimpses when she's dropping Henry off. One time, she thinks she's sees a woman all in black ahead of her in the woods when she's stalking a vamp there, but she couldn't be sure. 

***

Tonight, Emma is patrolling with both Belle and Red. It's a few days before full moon, and Red says she's too restless to sleep. They've got a picnic blanket laid out in the graveyard, and are nibbling on some snacks Granny packed for them.

"Can I ask something?" Emma says. She's been mulling over how best to bring his up since she knows it's a sensitive topic. "Why did Rumplestiltskin open the hell mouth?"

Red freezes and turns to Belle, who sighs.

"Rumplestiltskin is a very powerful demon. He was human a long time ago and gained control of a dagger which made him the Dark One. That gave him magic, and also the power to see the future. He spent most of his time taking revenge on people he thought had wronged him in the past. He became a monster. His son, seeing what his father had become, fled to another realm.

"Rumple spent years trying to find him but there are thousands of alternate worlds out there. Then he heard some information that his son was in one of the lands adjacent to hell. Since we live on the hell mouth, the easiest way to get there would be to open it and then use magic to tear a hole into the fabric between hell and that other world."

"That sounds like a terrible idea," Emma says.

Belle nods. "If the hell mouth opens, we're doomed. Anyway, Rumple realised that he couldn't open it himself. The mouth to hell was sealed shut by a witch hundreds of years ago, and only a very powerful witch could open it. That's why Rumple persuaded Regina to do it."

"Why would she go along with that?" Emma asks. Regina was grieving, sure, but that didn't mean she had to try and destroy the world.

Belle hesitates. "This isn't well known, but Regina spent years trying to resurrect her first love, Daniel, after she first learned magic. Daniel was killed by her mother."

"Mary Margaret told me about that," Emma says quietly. "Did she manage to do it?"

Belle shakes her head. "Not really. She couldn't figure out how to do it for years, and abandoned it to take revenge on Mary Margaret and David instead. But then, Rumple told her that she would be able to bring Daniel back if she opened the hell mouth. The power of all the undead coming up would give her enough power. So she did." 

Red interrupts. "I think at this point you should mention that you were dating Rumple at the time."

Belle blushes. "It's true. I feel so stupid looking back now, but I always wanted to believe the best in him. He promised me he wouldn't do it. And I guess he kept that promise. He just persuades Regina to do it. Anyway, Regina began opening the hell mouth, and her spell worked, but Daniel came back all wrong. He was tormented. He had been at peace, and tearing a soul back from that is cruel. He begged Regina to kill him. And he told her that she had to stop trying to avenge him if she was ever going to be happy. Regina was devastated. I've never seen her like that. She didn't even put up a fight when Mulan came to stop her. She just began closing the hell mouth, kissed Daniel, then asked Mulan for her knife, and killed him again. Mulan put the cuff on her, and she stayed in her house after that."

Emma can't imagine what it must have felt like, hoping for all those years, and then realising that it had all been in vain. 

"Anyway, after that, Belle told Rumple that they were over, and he swore up and down that he was through with the hell mouth. Then, two weeks later, he's figured out how to undo Regina's spell." Red's face is lined with anger.

Belle picks up the story. "I realised enough was enough and I tricked him. I told Mulan to distract him and put a cuff on him, and I would get his dagger which gives him his power and hide it. But when Mulan got to him, the hell mouth was already starting to reopen , and Rumple was fighting Hook, a vampire who hates him. Mulan had to choose who to fight. She decided Rumple was the bigger threat and put the cuff on him. And Hook killed her. She was so brave. Even as she was dying she shoved Hook into the hell mouth."

Belle breaks off, close to tears.

"It wasn't your fault," Red says emphatically. "What Rumple and Hook did is not on you."

"I shouldn't have let her go alone," Belle says. "It was my fault. I should have put that cuff on Rumple when Blue first mentioned it. It should never have come to this."

Red shakes her head. "We're all responsible for our own choices. Including Rumplestiltskin."

She turns to Emma. "Back when we still had magic, I used to take this potion which would let me stay aware when I was a wolf. I also had this red cloak, which is why people call me Red, which stopped me from changing. Anyway, when Regina cast the curse, I figured that I wouldn't change anymore because there was no magic. But I was wrong. Being a werewolf is an inherent part of me. It's not magical as such, it's who I am. So I changed, and I killed my boyfriend."

Emma gaps. "Oh my god, Red."

Red gives her a tight smile and rubs Belle's shoulders. "Anyway, my point is that our mistakes don't define us. I feel guilty about Peter every day, but not all of that was my fault. My mother didn't _have_ to bite me as a baby to make me like her, and she didn't _have_ to run off to 'be with her own kind' when I was four. Those things aren't my fault, but what I do with them is on me." Red looks at Belle. "What im saying is, what Rumple did is on him. And when you found out, you helped to cuff him and you took away his dagger.."

Belle doesn't look like she believes that, but she smiles weakly anyway.

Trying to lighten the mood, Red grins at Emma. "So, Slayer, are you going to enlighten us about what's going on with you and the Major?"

"What? Nothing!" Emma splutters. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the puppy dog eyes you give her every time she enters the diner. And Mary Margaret said you were asking all about her the other day."

Belle joins in. "Just yesterday you were asking me if Regina was seeing anyone, and then you beat the crap out of that vampire after I told you about Mal and Graham."

Emma can feel her face growing hot. "I was asking for Henry's sake! And why would I be mad about her exes?" She hesitates, then can't help herself. "They are exes, right?"

Red and Belle look at each other and laugh.

"I think Regina likes you too," Belle says. "I've seen her watching us a couple of times when we've been slaying."

Emma is torn between being relieved that she’s not imagining things and asking why Belle hadn't told her at the time. 

Red laughs. "I'm actually quite fond of Regina now. I used to really, really hate her, but she was the one that stopped me when I transformed without control after the curse. She came after me with a tranquilliser gun and locked me up. She defended me against the people who wanted me tried for murder. Since then, she's kept an eye on me, making sure I remember when to lock myself away."

Belle nods in agreement. "Regina is not a bad person. She's just very complicated."

"Tell me about it," Emma groans. "One minute we're flirting, the next we're fighting. Half the time I have no idea which one we're currently doing. And she won't even talk to me at the moment."

Red opens her mouth to say more, when Emma's phone rings. It’s the switchboard. “Emma,” Phillip who works the night shift says urgently, “some people have called to report some weird green smoke out by the edge of the woods near the playpark.”

“On it.” Emma scrambles to her feet. “Sorry ladies,” she says, “picnic’s over.”

***

The green smoke is still lingering when they arrive, stakes held high. It’s sickly and makes Emma splutter. “What kind of demon makes all this smoke? Is there such a thing as a demon skunk?”

Belle shakes her head. “I have no idea. It reminds me a bit of the purple smoke that Regina’s magic used to have, but obviously there’s no magic so that can’t be it.”

The creep across the grass towards Henry’s castle, looking around for any movement.

Suddenly, Belle screams. A huge black creature is attacking her. It’s got black, leathery wings, and huge claws on its feet, and it’s trying to grab Belle’s coat and pull her up. 

Emma grabs it’s tail and the thing turns around. She’s so horrified she almost let’s go: the animal is a huge winged monkey.

Red helps her and pulls Belle out of its grasp, and Emma tries to throw a punch at it but it’s much faster than she is.

Suddenly, she realises that her feet are no longer touching the ground, and a second monkey is helping the first one pull her up.

Belle and Red grab her feet but although it shouldn’t be possible, the monkeys seem stronger. 

Emma can feels their sharp claws digging into her shoulders painfully and warm blood begins trickling down her front and back. And then, the monkeys let out an almighty screech, and Emma’s drops the ten or so feet to the ground. 

“Ouch,” she says, groaning. Then she looks around. The two monkeys are lying on the floor, dead, an arrow stuck in each of them. Behind them stands Mary Margaret with a cross bow.

“Emma!” she shouts, running over to her. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, just a bit bruised,” she replies. “You have some seriously good aim with that thing.”

Mary Margaret beams at her. “Thanks!” She grows more hesitant. “Would you like me to help you clean out your wounds?”

Emma almost brushes her off and says that Belle can do it, but then figures she kind of owes Mary Margaret for saving her life and all, so she nods. 

***

Emma regrets her decision when Mary Margaret sees her messy room at the B & B, but Mary Margaret doesn’t say anything about the dirty clothes on the floor.

Instead, she gently dabs Emma’s shoulder with disinfectant and begins patching her up.

“You know, if you would rather stay somewhere more permanent,” Mary Margaret begins, sounding deceptively casual, “David and I have a spare bedroom in our loft. You would be more than welcome to it.”

Emma suppresses a shudder. “Erm, thanks, but I’m ok here for now.” She sees Mary Margaret’s face fall. “I’m not a very good roommate.”

“You’re not our roommate though, Emma,” Mary Margaret says sadly. “Whether you like us or not, you’re our daughter.” She sticks the last bandage in place. “There, all done.”

“Thanks.” Emma tries to think how to get rid of her as quickly as possible so they don’t have to continue with this awkward conversation. 

“Don’t worry, I’m leaving,” Mary Margaret says, smiling softly. “I’ll try to give you more space. But Emma, the offer stands. And if you ever need me, I’m here for you.”

With one last sad look at Emma, she leaves. Emma falls back onto her bed, but it takes her a long time to fall asleep.

***

The next morning she’s yawning over a book on demons at the station, trying to find reference to winged monkeys and green smoke, when Regina storms in.

“Are you alright?” Regina grabs Emma’s shoulders and Emma flinches away.

“Oww!”

“You’re hurt.” Regina’s face goes even paler. “Why aren’t you at the hospital?”

“Because it’s only a scratch.” She looks at Regina more closely. “Are you ok? You look kind of pale.”

“Henry said that he heard you were hurt while slaying,” Regina says, sinking onto Emma’s desk heavily. 

“I’m fine,” Emma smiles. “I heal way faster than normal people anyway. Looking back, I should really have picked up all those signs I was the Slayer, huh?” Regina doesn’t laugh with her. “Hey, were you _worried_ about me?”

Regina gives her a dirty look. “If you’re going to make fun of me, I’m leaving.”

“Hey, not, wait,” Emma says, moving round to block her exit. “I’m sorry. That’s very sweet of you.”

Pursing her lips, Regina hesitates for a second, and then she’s kissing Emma. 

Emma catches on quickly, and wraps her arms around Regina gently. It’s even better than she imagined. Regina is as intense when kissing as she is with everything else, and it’s soft and sexy and Emma just wants to –

“Emma!” 

They break apart just before David bursts into the room.

“Oh good,” he gasps, seeing Regina. “Quickly! Something’s happened at the school. They’ve got Mary Margaret and Henry!”


	5. Part 5

Regina is out of the door before Emma can ask David anything further and Emma sighs and sprints after her, assuming David will follow. 

"Regina, wait!" she shouts. "Let's take the squad car."

Regina hesitates for a brief second and then flings herself into the passenger seat. David barely manages to make it into the back before Emma is stepping on the gas, blue lights blaring.

"What happened?" Regina asks David, her voice sharp.

David pulls out his phone. "I got this text from Mary Margaret. 'SOS at school she has me and Henry bring Emma and Regina'." He shakes his head. "She didn't say anything else and hasn't been replying."

They pull up at the school, where all the kids appear to be in the playground. Some are crying and being comforted by teachers. Emma can't see Henry anywhere.

"Mayor Mills!" One of the teachers calls to her. "She had a gun, I'm so sorry, she would only let one of us go with them, he wasn't hurt, I swear, there was nothing we could do-"

"Slow down," Emma says urgently. "Who had a gun? Where are they now?"

"The woman. She said her name was Serena or something." The woman looks close to tears, and a little girl is clinging to her arm in a death grip. "She took them that way." She points in the direction of the river.

Emma groans as Regina runs off again, and follows her. "Regina, we need a plan."

"Find Henry. Get him safe. Kill whoever hurt him. That's the plan," Regina spits out.

Emma feels sick to her stomach when she thinks of someone hurting Henry, but she's also worried about the gun. Emma may be a lot of things, but bulletproof isn't one of them.

Emma's just wondering how the hell they're going to find anyone in these woods when suddenly a shout echoes around them.

"Regina!" It's a woman, calling out mockingly. "Come out to play. Henry and I are waiting for you."

It's coming from the left and the three of them hurry through the trees and suddenly they're clear of the woods, standing at the highest point over the river, where the old rickety rope bridge hangs. 

To the side, Mary Margaret is standing, crying. Henry and a woman with curly ginger hair are on the bridge. The first thing Emma notices is the gun in her hand, pointed at Henry. The second thing is that her skin is completely green.

"Finally!" the woman cackles. 

"Get the hell away from my son," Regina snarls. She begins to walk onto the bridge but the woman pointedly releases the safety.

"Ah, ah. If I were you I'd stay right there."

"What do you want?" Regina asks, furious and terrified. Emma quickly moves to stand beside her, ignoring David and Mary Margaret hugging behind her.

"Now, now, is that any way to greet your sister?" the woman asks.

Emma looks at Regina quickly, who just shakes her head. "I don't have a sister."

"Oh yes you do. I'm Zelena. Your older sister."

"You're lying," Regina says. "My father would never have-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Zelena replies. "I'm Cora's daughter. The one she decided _not_ to keep."

"Prove it," Regina says, but Emma can hear a wobble of doubt in her voice.

"I intend to," Zelena replies. "So why don't we get down to business. Break the curse."

"What?" Regina looks away from Henry and stares at Zelena in surprise. 

Zelena shakes her head. "It took me years to find the right portal. But now I'm here and it's time to finally get some answers. Now, break the curse."

"You're mad," Regina replies. "If I break the curse the hell mouth will open."

"Yes, dear. That's the point."

"No." Regina shakes her head. "We'd be doomed."

"This isn't really up for discussion. Now, I'm going to throw Henry off this bridge , and you can either break the curse and save him with your magic, or let him die. Your choice."

Emma gasps and shouts "no!" as Zelena shoves Henry through one of the gaps in the railing.

It's like Emma's living in slow motion. She sees Henry, arms flailing, trying to grab hold of Zelena, who cackles in delight. He falls out of view, and at the same time, Emma can feel a powerful energy rippling through her. The ground trembles. And above them, purple smoke begins rolling over the forest..

Beside her, Regina's arms are spread out and her eyes are closed. The waves of magic coming off her are so strong Emma can almost touch them. 

And then, Henry is catapulted up from below and lands in a heap in front of them. Regina runs towards him, ignoring the purple smoke and the trembling ground and hugs him close. Henry sobs into her shoulder.

Emma feels like her knees are about to give out. She's never been so terrified in her entire life.

Shaking, she walks towards them, and grabs Henry's outstretched hand.

"This is so touching," Zelena says, suddenly standing right in front of them. "Now, let's complete this little family get together." She waves her arm, and suddenly Emma feels like she's falling backwards down a hole. Green smoke surrounds her and Henry lets go of her hand. And then she lands hard on the ground.

***

The hell mouth looks like it's on fire. It's glowing so brightly that it hurts to look straight at it.

Beside her, Mary Margaret gets to her feet. Regina is already standing, looking around for Henry, who is sitting on the ground with David near the entrance.

"What are we doing here?" Emma asks Zelena, who is standing in front of the hell mouth, arms outstretched.

Zelena doesn't answer. Instead, she puts one of her arms straight into the hell mouth and seems to grab onto something. She pulls and pulls, groaning with exertion, and then a woman tumbles out. Emma hears Regina let out a choked sob beside her.

Zelena pulls the woman to her feet. The woman gasps when she sees her, shrinking back from her.

“Who are you?” she rasps.

“Don’t recognise your own daughter?” Zelena’s lip curls and she pushes her towards the part of the cavern where Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina are standing. 

“Regina!” The woman reaches for her but Regina takes a step back. Emma instinctively places herself between them.

So this is Cora. 

She doesn’t look like an all-powerful witch who’s trying to take over the world, but then again, she also doesn’t look like she’s had an awfully bad time in hell. She’s wearing a long purple velvet cloak with ermine trimming, and the dress she’s wearing beneath it is covered with jewels. 

"What are you doing?” Mary Margaret exclaims, and Emma looks away from Cora to where Zelena is sprinkling something white in a circle around the four of them. 

David and Henry move towards them but Regina holds up her hand, face tight. “Stay back,” she says. “Henry, stay back there with David.”

David stops and looks at Mary Margaret questioningly. She gives him a nod. 

Emma tries to move, but somehow it seems like her feet are stuck to the ground. She turns to look at Regina with wide eyes. “What’s happening?”

“It’s a circle of truth,” Regina says. “It makes people tell the truth to each other.”

“That’s right,” Zelena replies. “Four let the circle bind them, four let the truth find them,” she sings out, laughing. “Now it’s time to get some answers.”

“Regina,” Mary Margaret says urgently. “What’s happening?”

Emma can feel it too. It’s like a squirming in her stomach, like she’s eaten three hot dogs and then got on a rollercoaster. Something inside her is fighting to come out. The more she struggles against it, the more it strengthens inside her.

“You can’t fight it,” Regina gasps. “It will come out eventually. And you won’t be able to move until you say it.”

“Say what?” David asks, panicked at Mary Margaret’s expression of agony.

“Your hidden thoughts and feelings. Your darkest, deepest, most shameful secrets.” Zelena smiles a nasty smile. 

Emma gives Regina another panicked look. There are so many things churning in her right now. The kiss with Regina earlier. The way it made her feel things she hadn’t felt in so long. Maybe ever. Or her guilt and regret about giving up Henry, but how she’s also relieved, so relieved, that he had a better life than she could ever have imagined for him. 

Or-

“I don’t think I can have another child,” Mary Margaret cries out, the first one of them to break under the strain. “David, I know we always said, when the curse broke, we would have another one. But I can’t be a mother. I mean, look at Emma.” Tears begin rolling down her face. 

Emma feels a cold shock go through her.

“Everything she is, every good thing in her, that has nothing to do with us. All of that is in spite of what we did. We just threw her out into the world because they told us to, and why?”

“We had no other choice,” David says, but his voice is trembling and he sounds close to tears as well.

“That’s what they told us and we believed them,” Mary Margaret replies. “But why did we? I have this terrible doubt, David, that we did the wrong thing. That one of us should have gone with her. That we should have kept her. We spent all those years blaming Rumple, blaming Regina, but really we should have been blaming ourselves.”

Mary Margaret turns to look at Emma. “I am so sorry, Emma. I always wanted a big family, but I look at you, you’re all grown up, you don’t need us, and I can’t help but think that maybe it was better that you grew up away from us. I’m a terrible mother.” She begins crying in earnest.

Emma opens her mouth and says “I hate you.” Her eyes go wide but now she’s started, she can’t stop. “I hate you so much. For twenty eight years I’ve known that my parents didn’t want me, and that’s ok, because I’ve made it on my own and it’s made me tough, and I was _fine_ before I came here, and then you show up out of nowhere saying you’re my _parents_ , following me around, trying to know me.

"I hate that you seem like nice people and I hate that you act like you want to be there for me because all this time I've been getting by by telling myself 'maybe I'm better off this way and now I've met you and I realise what I could have had and I hate you for it."

Emma's crying and so are David and Mary Margaret. It's awful, but somehow it also feels like something dark and poisonous is being sucked out of her.

"I hate that you believed in the Council more than you believed in our family. I hate that you've spent years thinking about having a replacement baby and I hate that you're putting your guilt on me now." Her voice breaks. "Growing up was so _shitty-_ and all this time you let me believe there was no one who loved me, who wanted me."

"Emma," David gasps, "I'm so sorry. We're so, so sorry."

"I hate that even after everything you did I still care about what you think of me," Emma says softly. "I hate that I want you to be proud of me." She feels her feet unstick from the ground, and she shakily steps back and away from Mary Margaret, who reaches for her. David pulls her out of the circle and I to his arms, but Emma turns away. Regina and Cora are still stuck inside.

"Lovely," Zelena says, sickly sweet. "And now for us, mother. Why don't you share with us why you decided to abandon me in a different realm when I was barely a week old."

Emma looks from Zelena to Cora to Regina with wide eyes. Regina looks pale, and Emma can see that she's pressing her lips together firmly to keep whatever her truth is inside.

"Zelena," Cora says. “My dear. Surely this is unnecessary?”

Zelena steps closer to the circle. “Unnecessary? I have searched for my family for decades! You sent me to that wretched place, where they feared and hated me! And when I escaped to Oz, and finally found the way to locate my mother, what do I see? That she’s replaced me with _her_.” Zelena points towards Regina, her hand trembling. “How else can I get answers from you if not like this? When my _sister_ who apparently didn’t even know I existed has sent you to hell? How can I get you to talk to me unless I force you?”

Emma can see that Cora is struggling to keep whatever her truth is inside of her, but it becomes too much and bursts out. 

“I had to!” she cries. “There was a prophecy. Rumplestiltskin said that I would turn my daughter dark if I kept her with me. I would make her suffer for my own ambition. I would ruin her life. And it would all be for nothing. All my dreams for her would come to nothing.”

Zelena stares at her, mouth open.

“So I took you to a portal,” Cora continues, the words coming out of her involuntarily. “I was terrified. I was so sure I would ruin your life.” A single tear runs over her face. “When I got to the portal, I wasn’t sure I could go through with it. So I took out my heart to make it easier.”

Behind Emma, Mary Margaret lets out a gasp. Emma remembers Belle telling her about a spell to remove a heart. It lets the holder of the heart control the other person. Emma had been extremely freaked out by that, although Belle had said that there was a note that Slayers’ hearts are particularly hard to take out.

“I tried putting it back in after I sent you away,” Cora continues, “but it was too painful. I decided it was better that way, and I never replaced it. Shortly afterwards, I met Henry. I knew he was distantly related to a Slayer, so I knew it was likely that any daughter we had together would be a Potential.” She looks at Zelena with her strange, cold eyes. Emma wonders if the deadness in them is because of her missing heart.

"I never forgot about you. Sometimes, when I was travelling the realms, people would tell me about a powerful young witch, and I knew in my heart that it was you.”

“But you never came to me,” Zelena whispers wetly. “You never wanted to know me.”

“It was for your own good, Zelena,” Cora says, finally able to step out of the circle. She takes Zelena’s arm. “And you’re here now. Me and you and Regina. A _family_.”

Emma suppresses a shudder. Cora’s voice, now that she’s free of the truth spell, has taken on a sickly, sugary quality, as if she’s trying to cast a spell over Zelena to make her forget what she did. And it seems to be working. Zelena is trembling, leaning into Cora’s touch like it’s her lifeline. 

“Come along then, Regina darling. Get on with it,” Cora says impatiently.

Dread fills Emma as she sees Regina’s panicked eyes. 

Regina balls her hands into fists, and then slowly releases the. “Henry,” she begins, trembling, and Emma turns to see him coming towards her. He reaches out and takes Emma’s hand.

“I know you think I’m evil,” Regina begins, sounding close to tears already. “And I know I don’t always tell you the truth. But it’s because I’m _afraid_ , Henry, that if you know the things I’ve done, that you won’t want me to be your mother anymore.” 

Henry grips Emma’s hand even harder.

“I love you so much. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I know that you know that I found out Emma was your mother. I know that you think I hid that from you so that the Slayer would stay away from Storybrooke. But the truth is, when you told me you wanted to find your birth parents, I was terrified I might lose you. And when I found out who your birth mother was, I knew that there was no way I could measure up next to the Slayer.”

Regina is crying so hard she’s almost choking on the words.

“You once said to me that I tried to keep you away from your birth mother because she’s the Slayer, but darling, it’s the other way around. I tried to keep you from the Slayer _because she’s your birth mother_.”

Henry lets go of Emma’s hand, and steps closer to the circle. Regina stretches out her arm, keeping him back. 

“I’ve done terrible things, Henry. And yes, I deliberately kept from you and everyone else that I knew where Emma was this whole time. Sometimes, when people in town got close, I would make sure Emma moved somewhere else.” Regina looks away from Henry to Emma for the first time. “One time, I called your boss at that café you worked in New York and told him that you were selling drugs to customers. Another time I called your landlord and told him you were wanted by the police.” She looks back to Henry. “And I know you hate me, and I know that I’ve lied and I’ve kept us all trapped under this curse for much longer than we needed to be. But Henry, I did it because I love you so much. And I was too afraid to see whether you would love me if you knew the truth.”

As Regina stops speaking, the glowing white circle flickers and goes out, and Regina and Henry run to each other, both crying and hugging. 

Emma suddenly realises her own cheeks are wet. She should feel angry. Regina just confessed that all those times when Emma cursed the universe for her crappy luck with jobs and apartments weren’t her fault, but Regina’s. But she can’t help but wonder what her life would have been like, if even one of the families she stayed with as a child had wanted to keep her as much as Regina wanted to keep Henry.

“Lovely,” Cora says, full of false sweetness. “Now why don’t we take this elsewhere. Just the family.” She looks at Regina. “I take it you still live in the house?”

Regina nods, eyes suddenly panicked again. She steps forward almost automatically, letting go of Henry. Cora holds out her hand impatiently. 

"Come along, Regina," she says sharply. "Bring your boy too. Henry, is it?"

Henry looks from Regina's drawn face to Emma. Torn, Emma tries to catch Regina's eye, but Regina is avoiding looking at her at all costs.

And then, Regina's voice echoes in Emma's head. " _Don't let me take him. Fight me._."

Helplessly, Emma tries to make eye contact, to confirm that somehow, Regina is managing to speak to her, but she's not looking anywhere near her.

Henry moves to follow Regina, and in that brief moment, Regina glances up and Emma sees the fear in her eyes.

"Henry's not going anywhere with you," Emma says lamely, and Regina’s eyes become exasperated, as if to say _is that the best you've got?_.

Fine. "I mean, after what you just admitted, I think it's best if Henry stays with me."

"Emma!" Henry sounds appalled, but she quickly grabs his shoulder and pushes him behind her.

"He's _my_ son," Regina says furiously, and, ok, she's a lot better at this whole acting thing than Emma is.

"And right now, I think it's best if he stays away from you and your crazy family," Emma throws back, trying to copy Regina's tone.

"Emma, I'm not sure-"

"Emma's right," David interrupts Mary Margaret, and Emma's not sure if he's cottoned on to what they're doing or whether he's letting his hatred of Regina guide him. "Henry should come with us."

Regina steps forward but Cora rolls her eyes. 

"Regina, darling, really? Fighting over this boy is beneath you. He's not even related to you." She grabs Regina's arm. "If it's that important to you, we'll deal with it when I have my strength back. Now, I've just come back from hell. I need to rest. Take us home!"

"Mom!" Henry cries, but Regina just gives him one long, sad look, and waves her arm. The next minute, Cora, Zelena and Regina have disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

Henry let's out a cry, and Emma tries to hug him but he pulls away. "Why did you do that? Now she's all alone!"

"She asked me to," Emma says, guilt gnawing at her. "She sent me this message in my head, she told me to argue with her on this."

For a horrible moment she's worried he won't believe her, but then he deflates and nods. "She did always say her mom wasn't a very nice person."

Emma suspects that might be the understatement of the century.

"What do we do now?" Mary Margaret asks helplessly. "Cora's back, the hell mouth is opening..."

"We have to warn everyone," David says decisively. "And we have to call the Council. They've been working on a way to close the hell mouth."

Emma nods. "I'll call Belle. We need headquarters so let's use Granny's."

"What about me?" Henry asks, sounding close to tears.

Emma has no idea. Dealing with the impending apocalypse, ok, yes, she can probably do that. But looking after Henry for the foreseeable future? 

"Come with us for now, kid," she says. 

They walk through the tunnel towards the exist. Before they can even see daylight Emma can hear screams. 

"I thought the hell mouth was only opening now?"

"There are lots of creatures in Storybrooke already whose magic will have just come back to them, Emma," Mary Margaret says gravely. 

They step into the open. Dr Hopper and his dalmatian are sprinting past them, his coat shredded and trailing behind him. A man in a tuxedo keeps appearing out of nowhere, throwing his top hat on the floor, jumping into it, and disappearing again. Over the trees, Emma can see the outline of more of the winged monkeys, screeching and diving into the woods. And above them, casting a shadow over the town, a huge dragon is soaring, it's large tail thumping against the trees.

"Holy shit," Emma exclaims.

"Welcome to the hell mouth," David replies.


	6. Part 6

First, they try Granny’s. But they’re barely in the door when they’re turning around again; Henry has seen enough for one day without being subjected to watching Ashley give birth on the counter. He already looks a little pale from the glimpse he caught before Emma clapped her hand over his eyes. 

But once they’re back out on the street, Emma hesitates. She thinks of her little room upstairs in the B and B, of her clothes strewn about on the floor, the stakes piled up beside the bed, and wonders what she’s going to do with Henry.

“Emma,” Mary Margaret steps forward hesitantly. “Maybe we should all go to our loft. We have a spare room that you and Henry can stay in.”

Emma wants to say no. She is trying to keep the things that they said to each other down in the mine out of her mind, but the idea of going home with them, of staying with them for god knows how long, isn’t exactly in her top ten list of things she’d like to do right now. 

But then she looks at Henry, who has seemed close to tears ever since Regina disappeared with her mother, and it’s clear to her that he can’t stay with her at Granny’s. Someone is going to have to keep an eye on him while Emma tries to figure out what Cora is up to, not to mention what’s going to happen when the hell mouth opens.

"Fine," she sighs. "Let’s go.”

***

Mary Margaret begins fussing with spare linens and towels the minute they get in, and David goes off to ‘initiate the emergency alarm’ which Emma assumes means call Blue and tell her what’s happened.

Henry sinks heavily onto the sofa in the corner. “Do you think Mom is ok?”

Emma perches on the side of the sofa and pats his back awkwardly. She’s never been very good at comforting people. “Your Mom is a pretty tough lady,” Emma says. “She’ll be ok.”

“She looked so frightened,” he says, his voice shaky.

“She was scared for you,” Emma replies. “She’ll feel better knowing that you are safe with us here.”

“We have to help her, Emma,” Henry says. “We have to.”

“We will,” she says soothingly. “I promise.” 

“I’ve made up the bed,” Mary Margaret says as she bustles into the room, “but if you need anything else let me know.”

At that moment, there’s a knock on the door, and David hurries down the stairs, and lets in Blue, Belle, and a whole crowd of other Council members. The small room becomes crowded and loud.

“Is it true?” Blue asks Mary Margaret. “Regina has broken the curse and opened the hell mouth to bring back her mother?”

“No!” Emma exclaims. She turns to David. “Is that what you told them?”

“Of course not,” David says. “Emma, I just told her what happened.”

“So Regina didn’t go off with Cora and her sister?” Blue asks.

“Well yes, but-“

“I always knew that she would betray us,” Blue spits. “So much for waiting to break the curse until the Slayer was ready.”

“That’s not what happened!” Henry cries, outraged. 

“Blue, Regina was just trying to protect Henry,” Mary Margaret says beseechingly.

“Or that’s what they made it look like,” Blue says, her tone patronising. “Mary Margaret, you know first-hand how well Regina can conceal her true feelings.”

“Blue, I don’t think-” David begins, but Blue cuts him off as if he hasn’t spoken.

“Astrid, are we any further with a solution to closing the hell mouth?”

“We’re still working on a variation of _Giles’ Incantations_ , but we’re finding the translation very difficult.”

Blue purses her lips, displeased. “Well, keep working on it. In the meantime, we should start looking at ways we can stop Regina. Perhaps get another cuff on her.”

“Hey!” Emma stands up and stands close to Blue. “Regina isn’t the enemy here. Have you forgotten that her crazy Mom is back in town?”

“Who she brought back into town,” Blue replies. 

“I can’t believe this.” Emma looks from Watcher to Watcher, but the only one who makes eye contact with her is Belle.

“Perhaps we should give Regina the benefit of the doubt,” Belle says gently to Blue. “After all, with the hell mouth opening, we have other things to worry about.”

“Have you forgotten what it was like, the last time Regina went dark?” Blue replies coldly. “I know that over the past twenty eight years everyone seems to have decided that everything is forgiven and forgotten, but _I_ haven’t forgotten. She’s dangerous. We don’t know what she’s planning. We don’t know whose side she’s on.”

“She’s obviously on Henry’s side,” Mary Margaret replies. “She let us take him so he would be away from Cora.”

“In the version I heard, she wanted to take him and Emma stopped her.”

“Because Mom _told_ her to!” Henry is also standing now, hands on his hips, and in that moment he looks so like Regina that Emma’s chest hurts. 

"I know you want to believe the best in her, Henry, but your mother is not a good person." Blue puts on her best sympathetic face. “She’s hurt a lot of people.” The other Watchers around Blue mumble and nod in agreement.

“Hey, that’s enough.” Emma steps between them. “Don’t speak to him like that about his mother. Or, better yet, don’t speak to him at all.” She turns to Belle. “I’m going to go patrolling and see what’s come out of the hell mouth so far.”

Belle nods. “I’ll go to the library. If you need me to look anything up, just call me.”

Emma nods. “Mary Margaret, David, will you look after Henry?”

“Of course,” David says.

“Do you want one of us to go with you?” Mary Margaret asks eagerly.

Emma shakes her head. “No, thanks. It’s better if you’re both here in case Cora decides to make a move.” She gives the Council a dark look. “And get these clowns out of here.”

“Now, wait a minute,” Blue interrupts. “We’re not finished here. We need a plan!”

“We have a plan,” Emma responds. “Fight whatever forces of darkness that are coming out of the hell mouth. Find out what Cora is up to. Help Regina get out of there. Get her to close the hell mouth.”

“We do _not_ need Regina Mills’ help to close the hell mouth!” Blue almost shouts, eyes glittering with outrage.

“Really? Doesn’t seem that way to me.” Emma feels the satisfaction of landing a hit against Blue, but it’s short lived when she sees Henry’s pale face, his upper lip trembling.

He runs up to her and hugs her.

“Hey, don’t worry,” she says, as brightly as she can. “I’ll be alright. I promise. I’m only going to have a look around, that’s all.” 

He nods. 

“You stay here with David and Mary Margaret, ok? They’ll keep you safe.”

She waits until she feels him nod again against her shoulder, and then she pushes past a still protesting Blue and shrugs on her leather jacket. Belle also moves to the door.

“Belle, come back here!” Blue orders. “As Head Watcher, I command you to stay.”

Belle doesn’t even look around. “Check in every fifteen minutes, Emma,” Belle instructs. “If I don’t hear from you I’ll send someone after you.”

***

They leave the Council assembled in the loft. Emma’s belt is packed with stakes, daggers, holy water, and a flare (“just in case” Belle had said). Emma walks Belle to the library but the streets are strangely empty. 

By now it’s late afternoon, and normally the streets are filled with school children on their way home and people going for their mid-afternoon coffee run. Instead, alerted by the Council’s emergency warning system, everyone has either gone home or barricaded themselves in their offices, waiting for the green light to come out again.

It’s still light enough that vampires are keeping cover, but like Mary Margaret pointed out earlier, it’s not just vampires that roam Storybrooke now. And in about half an hour, when the sky starts turning pink, the fun will really start.

Once she safely escorts Belle inside, Emma toys with the idea of going to Mifflin Street and seeing Regina. But she doesn’t want to put her in more danger. Regina clearly didn’t want her mother to know that she was friendly with the Slayer, and Emma doesn’t want to put her in a difficult position.

But the idea of Regina, locked up in that big house with her crazy sister and her evil mother is almost too much to bear.

She needs to find something to slay, and fast.

It turns out she doesn’t have to wait long. She’s half-heartedly heading towards the mines when a shriek comes from above her and one of the winged monkeys throws itself at her.

At the very last moment, Emma steps aside, and the monkey has to scramble to land on the ground. Using the creature’s confusion, Emma draws her dagger and lifts it high above her head.

“You might not want to do that, Slayer,” a voice calls behind her. 

Startled, Emma turns around, and the monkey on the ground uses that opportunity to jump at her. Emma curses and tries to throw it off.

“Oh for goodness sake, hold still!” Mal commands, and she raises her hand to immobilise the creature on the floor, blue magical smoke swirling around her hands.

“You!” Emma says. Regina’s ex-girlfriend-slash-book-club-slash-coven-pal.

“Those monkeys are Zelena’s servants,” Mal says, ignoring Emma’s outburst. “And I also happen to know that they are people she’s transformed. So you might want to hold off on the stabbing.”

Horrified, Emma looks down at the one lying still at her feet. “Oh my god!”

“Quite,” Mal responds.

Emma turns back to her. “Wait, how do you know that?”

“I’ve come from the mansion,” Mal responds, and Emma steps forward eagerly.

“You have? How’s Regina? Is she ok? What’s Cora up to?”

Mal shakes her head. “I can’t answer your questions, Emma. Cora called all the witches to her and cast a spell upon us which means that we can’t tell you what she said.”

Emma kicks the ground in frustration. “Is Regina ok? Is she hurt?”

“I only saw her for a brief moment,” Mal says. “She did tell me to let you know that she will be in touch as soon as she can. She said to tell you not to do anything rash or stupid, and to keep Henry away from Cora.” Mal shrugs apologetically. “I’m sorry I can’t help you anymore.”

“Thanks,” Emma says distractedly and closes her eyes for a moment, relief flooding her. Regina is ok for now and she will be in touch. But how? And will Cora’s spell work on Regina as well? How are they going to find out what Cora is planning?

She turns back to ask Mal, and shrinks back in shock to find that where Mal was, a huge dragon is now stretching its wings, preparing to take off. Emma barely has time to jump aside before Mal-the-dragon is up in the air, the monkey clutched in her claws.

***

After checking in with Belle and letting her know the latest developments, Emma heads towards the mines with more purpose. 

About half way there, she encounters two demons with horrible scaly faces, horns, and no mouths. They attack her on sight and Emma ducks and manages to stab one in the heart as she does so. The other one, realising that she’s the Slayer, makes a run for it, but Emma is faster than he is, even on this uneven terrain, and she makes quick work of him too.

And then, just as she's wiping her dagger on the floor, the ground begins to shake.

Emma, who’s crouching on the balls of her feet, tumbles onto her ass and curses. The rumbling continues, and she’s pretty sure this is something to do with the hell mouth and not a sudden uncharacteristic Maine earthquake. 

As the shaking is getting less, Emma cautiously gets to her feet, and moves closer to the clearing where the road to the mines meets the entrance. 

Except where the narrow entrance to the mines was, personally cordoned off with police tape earlier that day by Emma herself, there’s now a load of rubble on the ground. And floating in mid-air beside it, is a huge pirate ship.

“Holy shit,” Emma exclaims. 

“Who do we have there?” Emma looks up to the bow and sees a man with dark hair and a pretty ridiculous amount of eyeliner standing there. He’s entirely dressed in black leather that has seen better days. His left hand is missing and in its place is a hook. Behind him, a small gang of dirty looking pirates has assembled, all peering down at Emma with interest.

“Let me guess,” Emma says. “You’re the vampire they call Hook?”

“ _Captain_ Hook,” he replies, smirking. “Although my friends call me Killian.”

“Hook it is, then,” Emma replies. “So you’re the one that killed the last Slayer.”

Killian’s eyebrows go up. “What’s it to you?” And then he catches sight of all the weapons she’s wearing. “Oh! Lads! We’re in the presence of the Slayer. Be very afraid.”

The pirates start laughing. Hook jumps down onto a lower level and disappears from sight for a moment, but then emerges at the door of the gangway, where a ladder is being lowered for him.

“Don’t worry, Slayer, I’ve got no problem with you,” Hook says, giving her a smarmy smile. “Honestly, the last one was an accident. I was trying to kill my crocodile, and she got in the way.” 

He jumps onto the ground and walks towards her. Emma reaches for a stake.

“You’re much prettier than the last one,” he says. “Although a lot older. But don’t worry, that doesn’t bother me. When you’ve lived as long as I have, age is just a number. Perhaps, when I’ve finished my mission, you and I could get together for some dinner?”

Emma looks at him incredulously. “Are you insane or just stupid? I’m the _Slayer_! My job is kinda to slay vampires, not date them.”

Hook just laughs. “I like a feisty girl. It’s always more fun when they say no at first.”

Disgusted, Emma decides that conversation time is over, and she jumps at him with her stake raised high. 

"Now, now, that's not very polite,” Hook says, sidestepping her and grabbing hold of a rope that his pirates have let down for him. 

Emma lunges again but she misses him by the skin of her teeth, his feet pulling past her outstretched fingers and up to the deck.

"What do you want?” Emma asks, annoyed at herself for not slaying him the minute he stepped off the ship.

“I’ve come to finally give the crocodile what he deserves,” Hook replies, his face growing dark. “I’ve spent decades in hell planning my revenge for what he did to me, and now, finally, I’m going to get it.”

“The crocodile, that’s Rumplestiltskin, right?” Emma’s heard just about enough about him for one day, but she remembers Belle telling her about some argument between him and Hook.

And seriously, what is it with people in Storybrooke and taking their arguments too far. It seems like pretty much everyone has a feud of their very own.

“Ten points for the Slayer,” Hook mocks. “Men, prepare the Jolly Roger. We’re finally taking her back to sea.”

There’s a cheer behind him and the pirates scramble in different directions. 

“Why are you so angry at Rumplestiltskin? What are you getting revenge for?” 

Hook laughs darkly. "I can't believe the Slayer of all people doesn’t know this story. I would have thought they would teach you about me in their little lessons. ”

Oh great, a narcissistic vampire. “Maybe I want to hear it from you.” She hopes her sarcasm isn’t too obvious.

He shrugs. “Fair enough. That bloody crocodile gave me back my soul, and I’m here to make him pay for that.” 

Emma opens her mouth in confusion, but the giant ship suddenly lurches forward very slowly, and the pirates begin loosening the sail. And then the Jolly Roger tilts herself upwards and begins drifting up into the pink sky and through the trees towards the sea. 

***  
Emma continues on her patrol for another hour. In that time she slays six vampires and two more of the scaly demons. 

She’s just taking a break after a lakeside battle with what she can only describe as something that looked suspiciously like the loch ness monster, when she thinks she sees something in the water.

She blinks, but the dark face she thought she saw is gone.

“Emma.” 

She turns around, but there’s no one in the park with her. She gets onto her knees, and leans closer to the water.

“Emma.”

And then, suddenly, she sees him. Sidney, Regina’s assistant, somehow has his face in the water. 

“Where the hell have you been? I feel like I’ve had my face in every puddle in Storybrooke! Meet Regina at her family’s crypt in ten minutes.” 

“What?” Emma leans so close to the water that her nose is almost touching it.

But Sidney’s face has already disintegrated. 

She checks her watch. The graveyard is way at the other end of town. Her car is still parked outside Granny’s.

Sighing, she gets to her feet, and sprints.

***

She’s barely made it, leaning against the Mills’ crypt, gasping for breath and clutching her sides, when she almost jumps out of her skin as something touches her back.

“Jesus!” She whips around and holds her stake to the person’s throat.

Regina holds her hands up. “Sorry. I didn’t realise you wouldn’t hear me coming over your lack of fitness.”

“Hey, I just did like two miles in ten minutes,” Emma splutters. She wants to reach out and touch Regina, but she somehow feels shy, like there’s this wall between them. Regina has this scary, hopeless look in her eyes, like she’s here but also far away.

“Is Henry ok?” Regina asks. 

“He’s worried about you,” Emma replies. “We all are. Are you ok? Have they hurt you?” 

Regina shakes her head. “Mother is resting. Zelena is mainly just sitting around, brooding, and I’m making mother a strengthening potion. That’s why she let me leave. I moved all my spell stuff to the vault under our family crypt when I got Henry so he wouldn’t accidentally eat salamander tail or something.”

Emma almost says ‘ahhh’ out loud as she realises why Regina and her pals are always sneaking around the crypt. But there are more pressing matters.

“What’s your mom up to?”

Regina shakes her head. “I can’t talk about it, Emma. She made me call the coven to her and then cast a spell of secrecy on all of us.”

“So they’re all on her side now?” Emma asks helplessly.

“No, but my mother is a very powerful woman, Emma. They’re scared. The only one who’s ever defeated her was me when I pushed her into hell, and that was when I had the advantage of surprise. And it turned me into a monster.”

Hearing Regina’s voice catch, Emma reaches out and grabs her hand. It’s cold and trembling softly, and Emma feels the barrier between them break down. She gently tugs on Regina’s arm and pulls her into a hug. It’s a little awkward because Emma hasn’t had much practice and Regina is also really, really tiny, but it’s worth it when she feels Regina embracing her back cautiously.

“I’m ok,” she says after a few seconds. “I’m ok knowing Henry is safe from her.”

Emma nods. “I promise she won’t get her hands on him. But Regina, please, I’m begging you, come back to the loft with me. Don’t go back there. I don’t want her hurting you.”

“Someone needs to keep an eye on her,” Regina says firmly. “And I’m hardly helpless. I’ll be fine.”

Emma bites her lip, wanting to argue further, and then suddenly Regina’s eyes go dark and she’s being gently pushed up against the walls of the crypt. 

Kissing Regina is just as good the second time, except after all the fear and worry of the last few hours it tastes even sweeter. Regina is still as focused, still uses her tongue with precision, and Emma feels the kiss go through every inch of her.

“This isn’t actually why I called you here,” Regina gasps as Emma begins kissing down her neck and undoing her scarf.

“No?” Emma pants, shivering as Regina’s hands slide down her back and land on her ass. 

They kiss again, more messily this time. Regina begins tugging at Emma’s ponytail, running her fingers through the curly mess that falls over Emma’s shoulders.

“I love your hair.” Regina sounds like she’s in a trance, kissing and nibbling Emma’s earlobe. Emma’s knees feel weak. “The hair and the jacket and the ridiculously over the top way you slay demons…” She rakes her nails up Emma’s back, under the jacket but over the shirt, and Emma imagines her doing that when they’re both naked, Emma’s fingers inside of her and-

“Delicious,” a voice says beside them. “Dinner is served.”

“Do you mind?” Emma asks the vampire, exasperated. She was just in the middle of unbuttoning Regina’s shirt and finding out if she was right about Regina being the kind of person who wears fancy lingerie for everyday use.

“Sorry,” the vampire replies, backing off. Emma gets back to what she was doing, and almost cheers. She was right. Navy blue satin.

“Emma,” Regina says in a strangled voice, sounding both turned on and exasperated. “You should probably slay that thing.”

The vamp seems to realise at the same time as Emma does that they’re not exactly playing by the rule book here.

It’s the first time Emma’s every fought a vampire with someone else’s lipstick on her neck, her shirt half undone, and her hair mussed in a definite I-was-just-about-to-have-sex way, and it seems that sexual frustration is pretty good for making her slaying more efficient.

Unfortunately, in the five minutes it takes Emma to ram the stake viciously in this cock-blocking asshole’s heart, Regina has managed to button herself up and compose herself. The only hint at what they were doing is her slightly smudged makeup and the red tint to her cheeks.

Sighing, Emma pulls her hair back up and tries not to smirk at Regina’s small disappointed sigh when she does the buttons on her plaid shirt back up.

“I need to get back,” Regina says regretfully. “She’ll wonder where I am.”

Emma wants to pull Regina towards her and never let her go. Instead she says “Alright. Can I do anything?”

“You and Belle need to find out what she’s planning and stop her,” Regina says emphatically. “Emma, if she goes through with this, it’s going to be worse than the hell mouth opening.”

Annoyed, Emma kicks the ground. “It would help if you could, you know, give me some answers instead of being all cryptic.”

“I’m trying,” Regina snaps back. “But she cast that spell on me too.”

Contrite, Emma steps closer. “I know, I’m sorry. I just really, really hate the idea of you being locked up there with those two maniacs.”

“Zelena isn’t a maniac,” Regina replies. “She’s just the product of what our mother did to her. Like I am.”

“You’ve never thrown a child off a bridge,” Emma replies darky. “Wait, have you?”

Regina laughs darkly. “I’ve done much worse things. Ask Blue or David. I’m sure either of them would be happy to give you the run-down of the top ten worst Regina Mills moments.”

Emma shakes her head. “You’re not going to scare me off with this whole ‘I’m so dark and evil’ thing, you know. I’ve dated bad girls before. Hell, usually _I’m_ the bad girl.”

“We can revisit this conversation if we survive the hell mouth and my mother,” Regina replies firmly. But she still places a quick peck on the corner of Emma’s lips. “Be safe,” she says softly. “Tell Belle to go shopping for antiques,” she says quickly. 

“What?” Emma’s confused at the non sequitur but Regina is already pulling back. “Regina!”

“I have to go,” she says apologetically. “Give Henry a kiss from me.”

And then she’s gone, leaving only purple smoke behind her.


	7. Part 7

Emma wants to go straight to Belle and ask her what the hell Regina was talking about, but when she checks her phone she see she has about twenty unread messages from Henry and Mary Margaret and decides it’s probably time to head home.

Which is easier said than done.

Storybrooke might have felt deserted in the late afternoon, but now that the sun has set, the streets are teeming with vampires and demons.

Emma doesn’t know where to look or who to slay. It’s hard to tell who’s up to no good and who’s just having an evening stroll. She breaks up a bar fight that’s spilled onto the street between two vampires about some woman named Guinevere who’s standing to the side looking kind of spaced out, although they take off pretty quickly when Emma jumps between them with her stake and she can’t really be bothered giving chase. 

After taking half an hour just to walk two blocks, she decides on a new strategy: unless someone is dying, screaming for help, or unconscious, she’s ignoring the undead and heading to the loft.

“Thank god you’re alright!” Mary Margaret exclaims, hugging her the minute she steps in.

Emma endures this for a moment, then shrugs her off.

“Sorry,” Mary Margaret quickly says, looking hurt.

“Look, I know we’re staying here and I know you’re trying and stuff, but I need time,” Emma says. “I’m sorry. I have too much going on right now with the hell mouth and Henry and Regina, I can’t think about this too.”

“We’re going have to talk about this eventually,” Mary Margaret says, but Emma is saved by Henry who emerges from the spare room on hearing her voice and hugs her. Emma squeezes him back, only slightly awkwardly. 

“I saw your Mom,” she says. “She told me to give you a big hug from her.”

“Is she ok?” Henry asks eagerly. “Did you two make a plan? Why didn’t she come with you?”

Emma tries very hard not to blush. Saying ‘well, we made out a little in a probably fairly inappropriate spot and then chatted about your grandma and then made out some more’ probably isn’t appropriate right now. 

“She’s ok for now, but Cora’s up to something. She’s cast a spell on all the witches in town so they can’t talk about what she’s doing, but Regina tried to give me a clue, I think. She’s going to stay undercover as long as she can. I have to talk to Belle.” She sighs. “It’ll have to wait until morning though. Town is mayhem.”

“The Watchers have decided that there’s going to be a mandatory sun-down curfew until we get this resolved,” David says from the stairs, carrying his phone. “That was Graham. We’re spreading the word.”

“Good idea.” Emma suppresses a yawn and realises that she hasn’t properly slept in what feels like days. “I’m going to crash for a bit, I think.”

"Do you want a hot milk before you go to bed?” Mary Margaret says hopefully. “Or a hot chocolate? I made Henry one earlier and he really enjoyed it.”

Emma shakes her head. “No, I’m ok.” She head to the spare room and then makes herself say “Thanks though,” trying to ignore the way her chest hurts when Mary Margaret beams in response.

***

Emma’s up bright and early the next morning, which is mainly due to the fact that Henry is up bright and early the next morning.

“I thought teenagers were supposed to be obsessed with their beds?” Emma groans as Henry rips open the curtains.

“I’m not a teenager yet, Emma,” Henry chirps. “And I have to go to school soon so we have to make a plan about how we’re going to save Mom before I go.”

Emma rubs her eyes. “School?”

Henry nods. “Mary Margaret, I mean, Miss Blanchard, says that we’re not capitulating to fear, so we’re all going down to the school and the Watchers are going to help guard us.”

“I suppose it’s not a bad plan having all the kids in one place to keep an eye on you,” Emma says, slowly waking up. “Although I hope they do a better job than yesterday.”

There’s a knock on the door and Mary Margaret pokes her head in. “Has Henry told you the plan?”

“About the school? Yeah.” Emma pulls the covers to her chest, suddenly remembering her lack of pyjamas. 

"Do you want me to come with you to see Belle?” David offers. “I might be able to help keep all the demons off you?”

Emma shakes her head. The last thing she needs is David trailing behind her all day like a stray puppy, making her feel guilty for something that she has every right to feel angry about. “You should go help the Watchers guard the school. We can’t be too careful with Cora on the loose.”

For a moment, Emma thinks that David is going to argue, but then he sighs and nods.

“Are you going to see Mom today?” Henry asks, turned towards the wall while Emma pulls on her jeans.

“I don’t know, Henry,” Emma replies honestly. “Your Mom is trying to be undercover right now and I don’t want to compromise her.”

“I just don’t want her to think that we’ve given up on her or that we think she’s gone evil again.”

Emma looks at him closely. “You don’t have to feel guilty about what she told you in the cave, Henry. This isn’t your fault. You were right that she lied to you, and she’s sorry and you forgave her.”

“And now she feels like she has to prove to me that she’s good!” Henry cries. “It is my fault, Emma.”

“Listen to me,” Emma says seriously, kneeling in front of him. “Your Mom made her own choices. Ones that weren’t the best ones in the past, sure. But now she’s trying to do better, and she’s being very brave here. We have to help here the best we can. And the best thing you can do is not blame yourself, and go to school, and be there for her when we get her out, ok?”

Henry nods, eyes watery.

Jesus. This parenting thing is hard.

Emma wonders if the emotional pep talks thing is something that she’s going to have to get used to doing, because quite honestly she already feels like she’s exhausted her supply. 

***  
“Regina says we should go shopping for antiques,” Emma tells Belle. “Does that mean anything to you?”

Belle rubs her forehead wearily. “Unfortunately, yes.” She pulls on her grey pea coat. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” Emma asks. 

Belle ignores her and strides down Main Street. Emma struggles to keep up despite being taller than Belle. They dodge around various demons, and a group of cloaked figures that are smoking on the corner.

Then, suddenly, Belle grinds to a halt outside the old pawn shop. In all the time Emma’s been here, she’s never seen that place open. Undeterred by the closed sign, Belle hammers on the door.

“Rumple!” she yells. “Open up!”

There’s no response. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Emma mutters. “Do you know where he lives?”

Belle rummages around in her large purse, and pulls out _Assorted Demons of New England_. Before Emma can ask why she’s decided to take frankly massive tome along with her, Belle has flung it with all her power at the glass panel in the door. Emma jumps back as the glass shatters everywhere, and Belle reaches through to unlock it.

“Woah,” Emma says, impressed. “When did you become so badass?”

“You’d be surprised what I’m capable of,” Belle mutters, opening the door, glass crunching under her feet. “Rumple? Are you here?”

The only sound in the shop is the ominous ticking of a large grandfather clock in the corner. The place is crammed full of nick knacks. 

Belle ignores it all and head behind the counter where there’s a narrow door. She flings it open, walks into the back room, and pulls back a rug on the floor to reveal a trap door.

“You’ve certainly done this before,” Emma notes.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Belle replies. She tugs on the rings hard and it flings open, revealing a ladder into the darkness. “Now. Are you ready to meet the Dark One?”

***  
Emma meets Rumplestiltskin when he is thrown into her as she descends down the ladder.

“This is for Milah!” Hook yells, running at them with a sword. 

There's no time for introductions. Emma shoves the so-called Dark One out of the way and dodges Hook’s sword, then kicks his heels and brings him to the ground.

“Get out of my way, Slayer!” he curses. “The Dark One is mine!”

Emma pushes him back down when he tries to get up. “Sorry, we have some questions for him. No revenge today I'm afraid.”

When he tries to get up yet again, she rolls her eyes and pulls out her stake. 

“You wouldn't,” he sneers. “Killing vampires who have been cursed with a soul is against the Slayer code.”

"Not if that vampire is trying to commit murder!” Belle interjects, “and not if that Vampire is responsible for killing a Slayer!”

Still, Emma hesitates. It's one thing to slay what is effectively a soul-less empty shell, but it's quite another to know that the thing she's staking is emotionally conscious in the same way she is.

Hook reads her indecision and smirks. “Can't bring yourself to slay me, can you? Don't worry, Slayer, we'll get our chance to be alone one day soon.”

And with that he darts to his feet and slip around them up the ladder and out of the shop.

“Go after him!” Rumple demands, outraged. “He won't get far! It's daylight!”

Emma turns to look at him. He doesn't exactly look like the super evil demon everyone says he is, but then again, Emma has learned the hard way that looks can be deceiving. And strangely, the longer she looks at Rumple the more his skin looks kind of shiny, like molten gold is flowing just below the surface.

“We're not here for him,” Emma says. “Emma Swan.”

“I know who you are,” Rumple replies, picking up his cane from the floor. Emma sees the cuff on his wrist which restricts his magic. 

“Cora’s back in town,” Belle begins. “She's up to something, and Regina hinted that it's got something to do with you.”

“Ah, Cora. One of my most talented students,” Rumple reminisces. He hobbles towards a door to the left, and Emma suddenly realises where she is. She hadn't taken in before that they're essentially in a mansion underground. Except it doesn't feel underground. It's light and airy and there are stairs leading up but the shop _ended_ so how that's possible she doesn't know but it's massive-  
“It's magic,” Belle whispers as they follow Rumble into a large lounge. “Rumple built this before he got his powers restricted and he's been holed up here ever since, although the Watchers went through and removed all the magical artefacts we could find.”

Emma has seen quite a bit of magic now, but this is still pretty cool and she's sure that Rumple can tell because he seems amused. 

“Why does Hook want to kill you?” Emma quickly asks. “He says you gave him back his soul. Surely he should be grateful for that?”

Rumple laughs; it sounds like a cackle. “Killian Jones and I go way back,” he replies. “Before he was Hook, he was just a plain old pirate turned vampire who decided that he wanted my wife to be his companion for eternity. When I became the Dark One, I took my revenge.”

Beside Emma, Belle flinches, but Rumple pretends not to notice although Emma sees him obsessively running a finger over a chipped tea cup which stands on the side table next to him. 

“I tracked him and Milah down, and performed an ancient curse which gave him back his soul. He was overcome with feeling, knowing all the people he had killed, including my wife. And then, when the curse was complete, I slayed Milah in front of him.”

Emma gasps.

“She was a monster at that point,” he says calmly, “and I didn't need my son to see her like that. But Jones went crazy with grief. I managed to banish him to another realm and he unfortunately lost his hand in the process, but it appears he has found his way here again to avenge Milah.”

Emma can't believe that sweet, kind, book-loving Belle dated this guy, who talks calmly about slaying his wife and cutting off body parts.

“Anyway, you said you were here about Cora,” Rumple changes the subject, his jolly tone covering for his hand which is still running over the tea cup, and his eyes which keep flashing to Belle.

“Do you know what she's up to?” Emma asks, trying to move past what she's just heard. “She's cast some sort of vow of silence on all the witches.”

“’Mendez’ Silencer’,” Rumple replied. “It will wear off in a couple of days.”

Belle’s eyes go wide. “I never thought of ‘Mendez’.” She shakes her head.

“That doesn't matter now,” Emma tries to keep them on track. “What is Cora doing?”

“Well, I would assume something similar to what she was doing last time, which was the reason I persuaded Regina to push her through that portal in the first place.”

The hairs on the back of Emma's neck rise up. So this is the guy that pushed and prodded Regina onto her dark path to do his work for him.

“And what was that?” Belle asks impatiently.

“How are you, Belle?” Rumple changes the subject. “We haven't spoken in so long.”

“And why do you think that is?” Belle spits, furious. “You promised me you'd changed. You promised you were going to leave the hell mouth alone!”

“I also promised Bae I would always look after him!” thunders Rumple. “I have to find him, don't you see Belle?”

“Hey!” Emma waves her hand. “Can we please focus on the unstable evil witch first before we engage in couples counselling?”

“Sorry,” Belle whispers. “He just makes me so mad.”

“What was Cora up to last time?” Emma repeats.

Rumple looks at her like she's stupid. “Surely that's obvious. Cora wants to become the Dark One. Once she has that power, she wants to overthrow the Council and take control of the Slayer.”

Emma scrunches up her face. “What? I mean, I kind of get the Dark One thing because she wants power and stuff, but why would she want to control the Slayer?”

“Have you taught her anything?” Rumple asks Belle.

Belle just sneers at him in reply. 

"The Slayer draws on one of the most ancient powers known in all the realms. Once she is called, that power vests in her through a magical process. It's one of the strongest forms of magic known. And Cora wants to find out how to channel and control that energy.”

“She wants the Slayer to be a weapon?” Belle gasps.

Rumple nods. “And last time, she had a theory that if the Slayer was briefly dead, for instance if her heart was magically stopped, a new Slayer would be activated. The old Slayer would then be revived. In this way, she intends to activate all the potentials and build and army.” He looks at their stunned faces. “Now obviously I'm not too keen on the whole part of the plan that revolves around killing me with the Dark One’s dagger.”

“Where is the dagger?” Emma asks Belle. 

“The Council have it,” Belle responds, chewing her lip. “But Emma, we need a plan. Cora is smart and she's got at least some of the witches on her side.”

Emma nods. “I know. Zelena especially could be dangerous.”

“Zelena?” Rumple enquiries. “Not the Zelena Cora put into the portal all those years ago?”

Emma narrows her eyes at him. “That’s the one. And your little prophecy failed,” she says. “Zelena was just as unhappy away from Cora as you predicted she would be with her.”

“Who said anything about Zelena?” Rumple smirks. “All I told Cora was that her daughter would be doomed to a life of misery if she kept her. I didn't say first daughter and I didn't say the daughter she had with her then. It's not my fault that Cora didn't ask a more specific question and that she interpreted the prophecy the way she did.”

“Wait, what?” Emma is reeling. “You mean the prophecy was about, about-“

“Regina? Why yes!”

“And you just let Cora put a baby in a portal on a misinterpretation?” Belle exclaims.

Rumple shrugs. “I needed Regina in this world. I needed her to open the hell mouth. I had seen that much in my visions. And to get her to that point I knew I needed Cora to make her dark.”

Emma almost yells ‘well you didn't win’ at him, but she holds back. She doesn't want him to be able to guess how she feels about Regina.

"So you just let Cora make her miserable for years,” she spits in disgust.

Rumple looks at her sharply. “I wasn't the only one who knew how Cora was treating her, you know. The Council was keeping a close eye on Regina since she was a potential. They didn't do anything either.”

Emma digs her nails into the palms of her hand.

“If Cora gets her hands on the dagger, what is she going to do with it?” Emma turns to Belle.

“Well she can't control Rumple while he's wearing the cuff,” Belle explains, “but if she kills him with it then she will become the Dark One.”

"So we have to stop her from killing him then.” Emma turns to Rumple. “You’re going to have to come with us.”

Rumple raises his eyebrows. “No thank you, Slayer. I don’t need a babysitter.” 

Emma meets his gaze. “I think you do. You have a crazy evil witch and her disciples, and a vampire pirate assassin after you. If anyone needs a babysitter, you do.”

Belle nods. “I agree.”

“Why Belle, are you saying you care about what happens to me?” Rumple looks at her with interest.

“Hardy,” Belle says, but Emma notices that she doesn’t meet his eye. It worries Emma. If Belle still has feelings for him after everything that’s happened this could end badly for all of them.

“Let’s move,” she says. She has no intention of still being here if and when Hook or Cora decide to show up here. 

They climb up the steps and into the shop. There's a bunch of stuff on the floor which looks like Hook let out his frustration on and Rumple sighs and picks some of it up.

“Come on,” Emma says impatiently. “You can sort out your shop when your life is no longer in danger.”

She ushers them out into the street and almost runs into David who is awkwardly lurking but pretends to be totally casual as they emerge. 

“Oh, hey, Emma,” he says nonchalantly, “how are things? I'm just picking up some stuff for your Mo-, I mean, for Mary Margaret.” He holds up a paper bag as evidence.

Emma wants to be annoyed that he's checking up on her, but she can't help but think about how strange and kind of nice it is to have people worry about her. She's had roommates and bosses and occasional friends-with-benefits, but none of them have ever gone out of their way to see if she's safe during one of her stakeouts.

“You can drop the act,” she says, trying to sound reproachful but not quite managing it. “Mary Margaret sent you to spy on me, am I right?”

“Just to check how you're doing,” David says hurriedly. “I know you can handle yourself but if you need any help, I'm here.”

Emma sighs and rolls her eyes, but his stupid, earnest, well-meaning expression tugs at something inside of her and she nods. “Fine, you can come along. We're going to the convent.”

David beams and Emma quickly looks away. Wouldn't do to raise his expectations too much.

***  
Blue is not thrilled to see them when the Watcher who opens the door takes them to her. She's even less pleased when they step aside and reveal Rumple in their midst.

“You brought the Dark One to the home of the Watchers?!” she almost shrieks.

“Sorry, would you have preferred that we let Cora skewer him with the dagger and become the Dark One herself?” Emma replies sharply, still annoyed at Blue from the day before.

Blue sniffs angrily. “Don't be childish, Slayer. Of course Cora must be prevented from becoming the Dark One. But I assure you, the dagger is extremely safe. Our protection spells will repel Cora since she has no scrap of light magic in her.” Blue looks about her haughtily. “That's what happens when you take out your heart.”

“You call that a protection spell?” a mocking voice calls from the other side of the room where a book case has just swung forward to reveal Zelena. Behind her, a pale looking Regina stands, and in her hand is the-

“The dagger!” Blue cries and rushes towards them, but Zelena flicks her wrist and Blue freezes. 

“Regina,” Emma says, searching her face for a hint of something. Instead, a cold shell looks back at her.

“Slayer,” Regina sneers. “Enjoy the little time you have left with my son. I assure you, you don't have much of it left.”

“Regina, what are you doing?” Belle asks. “You've come so far, don't throw it all away for someone who doesn't love you.”

Zelena snarls and throws Belle against the wall. “That's enough, Watcher. That's enough about our mother.”

“Regina,” Emma tries again. She knows, she _knows_ that Regina is only pretending, that she's on their side, but Emma has never seen this cold, hard look on her before, not even that night when she yelled at Emma about Henry that night Emma was checking out her book club. 

“Time to go,” Regina says to Zelena. And then she turns to Emma, and suddenly her voice is back in Emma’s head, like it was in the cave. “Find her heart. Ask Rumplestiltskin.”

And then they're gone in a cloud of green smoke. 

“Well, I hope that clears up any questions about whose side Regina is on,” Blue sniffs as the spell releases her. “Her mother has clearly turned her.”

“Oh shut up!” Emma has had just about enough. “You have no idea what you're talking about. Regina is helping us. She sent me a message. We have to find Cora’s heart!”

“Controlling Cora would certainly be an effective method of stopping her,” Rumple acknowledges.

“We're not going to _control_ her!” These people are unbelievable. “We're going to put it back in!”

“And you think after all these years of darkness that will magically ‘cure’ Cora?” Blue looks at her in disgust. “Use your common sense, Emma.”

“It might slow her down long enough that we can get a cuff on her,” Belle groans, picking herself up off the floor.

“David, talk some sense into your daughter,” Blue tells him. “We can't trust Regina and this plan is ridiculous. What we need is to find a way to eliminate Cora and her daughters permanently.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Emma draws herself up to full height. “Are you threatening Regina?”

“Your sacred duty is to protect people from dark forces, not to become BFFs and help them with their family issues!” Blue sneers. “And if you cared more about actually being the Slayer than about cosying up to Regina-“

“That's enough!” David roars. “You will not speak to my daughter like that.”

Blue draws back in surprise. “David! Mary Margaret would support me on this!”

“I think I know my wife rather better than you do, Blue,” David responds. “And she would trust Emma.”

Emma smiles weakly. “Thanks for the support.”

“Well now that we've sorted that, we should get moving,” Rumple says, tapping his cane. “Cora has the dagger now which means it's only a matter of time before she comes after me.”

“Do you know where Cora’s heart is?” Emma asks. 

Rumple does his annoying little half shrug. “I have my suspicions.”  
***   
They're almost back on Main Street when Henry comes out of nowhere and throws his arms around Emma. 

“Henry! What are you doing out of school?” Emma glances around at the various demons milling lazily around the liquor store two doors down. The school is two blocks away. Anyone, anything could have grabbed him between there and here.

She wonders if this is what it felt like for Regina when Henry decided to run off to Boston.

“I heard Miss Blanchard on the phone to David,” Henry mumbles, looking guilty. “And she said something about my Mom and Cora and a heart and I wanted to help!”

Emma sighs. Before she can reply, a short, gasping bundle of knitwear runs up to them and catches Henry in her arms. 

“Henry Mills! You do _not_ leave school grounds without permission!” Mary Margaret clutches at her sides, trying to look stern. David pats her on the back.

“Sorry Miss Blanchard,” Henry says quietly. “I just wanted to help Emma and my Mom.”

“That's all lovely,” Rumple says sarcastically, “but we're on a schedule here.”

Emma sighs. “You can come as long as you do what I tell you. I mean it, Henry. If I say hide, you hide. If I say run, you run. Your Mom will kill me if something happens to you.”

Henry nods, the picture of wide-eyes innocence. Emma gives him a sceptical look before turning back to Rumple.

“Are you going to tell us where we're going now?” Emma asks impatiently. She hates not knowing what's going on, but Rumple is clearly enjoying the reveal.

He points a long shimmery finger at the library. 

“Cora’s heart is in the library?” Belle says sceptically. “Where? I've rearranged that place dozens of times and I've never seen it.”

Rumple shakes his head. “It's not _in_ the library. It's _under_ it.”

*** 

In the end, after much discussion, Emma and Rumple go down alone. It takes some convincing before Mary Margaret and David agree that it will probably take both of them to make sure Henry doesn't try to follow them, and to keep any demons out. Belle volunteers to start looking into magical hearts and reinserting them. Henry looks mutinous, but Emma gets as strict as she thinks she can manage and he accepts defeat.

Rumple isn't too keen to come down with her, but she glares at him until he takes hold of the rope and let's David lower him down. After all, it's his neck they're helping to save here, so he can do some of the work.

To Emma's surprise, there's someone already down there. 

"Mal?" 

Mal turns at them in surprise. “Emma?” Then she sees Rumple and her eyes go hard. “And the Dark One.”

“Always a pleasure, Maleficent,” Rumple says.

“Can't say the same for you,” Mal hisses back. “What do you want?”

Emma tilts her head to the side. “I'm assuming the same thing you're here to guard.”

Just then, a roar echoes from further down the tunnel, the echo sounding like a giant lion. 

Mal looks at them in alarm. “You're here for Lily? I swear, she didn't know what she was doing. She's never changed before. Cora gave her a potion to make her transform and she had no control, she's never been taught, I swear she wouldn't have burned that guy if she's known how to control it…”

“Who's Lily?” Emma asks, puzzled.

As if in reply, another roar echoes around them, and then Emma sees a flicker of orange fire down the passage.

“Why her charming offspring, of course,” Rumple says, seeming extremely amused. “And you're the guard dog for the guard dragon are you, Mal?”

Mal snarls and draws herself up to full height. Before she gets any ideas about transforming, Emma quickly says “We're not here for, erm, Lily, is it? We're here for…something else.” Her finish is rather lame, following Rumple’s glare which clearly says _shut up_. “We think something's hidden in the cavern.”

Mal sighs, clearly knowing that if she tries to stop them there will be a fight she doesn't know if she can win. “Fine, I won't stop you. But you have to leave your weapons with me, and you can't hurt her. Promise me.”

Rumple looks at Emma incredulously as she throws down the sword that David handed her before she abseiled down the shaft, and draws her stakes and her knife from her belt. Last is the cross bow strapped to her back.

“You're going to face an adolescent dragon with not control over herself without weapons,” he says. “Well, you won't be the first Slayer I've seen die.”

Emma glares at him. “I would suggest keeping your mouth shut if you don't have anything helpful to say.”

She takes a deep breath, ignores the parts of her that think this is a terrible idea, and heads down the passage. She can head Rumple following slowly, since she needs him to tell her what she's looking for.

Compared to Mal when she's transformed, Lily is pretty small. But pretty small for a dragon is still the size of an elephant, and an elephant with a long spikey tail that can breathe fire at that. 

Lily does not appreciate the intrusion into her space. The minute she spots Emma, it becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Emma being the slightly singed mouse. She ducks and rolls and sprints behind boulders strewn across the cavern whenever Lily breathes in and her neck starts to glow yellow. 

“There, between her legs!” Rumple shouts at one point, and Emma sees the ornate metal box sitting amongst treasures of cold and silver that seem to form Lily’s bed.

Emma picks up a large rock and throws it into a corner. Lily turns at the noise and Emma sprints towards her. She's not quite fast enough. 

Her hands clasp around the box but then she feels herself caught by her boot in mouth of the dragon.

Hanging upside down, blood rushes to her head and she feels dizzy, but she keeps the box clutches to her chest. She doesn't know if she's imagining it, but there's a faint tremble that goes through it every so often, like a heartbeat.

“Do something!” she yells at Rumple, who is crouched behind a rock outcrop. 

And then, suddenly, Lily opens her mouth and drops Emma. Before she hits the ground, something slows her down. 

It's Mal, her arms outstretched, trembling with effort. Lily, clearly delighted to see her mother, huffs smoke out of her nostrils and whacks her tail against the cavern wall.

Emma doesn't hesitate. She yells a quick “thanks” to Mal and dashes for the exit, confident that Rumple will follow. 

She doesn't stop until the cavern is out of sight, and then she pauses to investigate the box. “Is this it?”

Rumple nods.

The clasp isn't sealed by magic like Emma expected and the lid opens easily. Inside, on a red velvet cushion likes a heart.

Except it's unlike any heart that Emma's ever seen before on TV. It glows and shimmers, and it's almost entirely made up of swirling black, with flecks of red dotted in small gaps.

Without even meaning to, Emma reaches for it. She's thrown back by the jolt that goes up her arm, and drops the box. It's like there's an invisible electric fence around it. 

“A blood magic barrier,” Rumple comments, looking intrigued. “Very clever. The only people who can open it are those she controls.”

“Cora doesn't control Regina,” Emma says firmly. “Not anymore.”

“I hope you're right,” Rumple replies. “Because the fate of the world as we know it depends on that.”

*** 

“Hey, guys!” Emma shouts up. “Pull us up, we're done!”

There's no response.

“Guys!”

Silence.

Emma unites her belt and straps the box to her waist, then begins to clamber up the shaft using the rope. 

When she arrives at the top, she is immediately faced with David’s foot. He's lying unconscious beside the shaft. Mary Margaret is next to him.

Emma can't see blood but she still panics. “Hey!” she yells, shaking their shoulders. “Are you ok?”

Relief floods through her as David groans and rubs his head. “Emma? What happened?”

Emma almost laughs in relief. Mary Margaret is stirring too. 

"Emma?" a small voice calls behind her, and Henry emerges from behind the stack of books he was hiding behind. “Emma!”

He hugs her and in her relief, holds him back. She notices that it doesn't feel as strange anymore to give hugs. Maybe practice makes perfect.

“What happened, Henry?”

“Hook,” he says, voice shaking. “Hook and Zelena came in. David saw them coming and told me to hide, and then Zelena made David and Miss Blanchard fall asleep and then Hook went through the back and got Belle and they took her away!”

Emma frowns. This isn't good. Her Watcher’s been captured, and Hook is working with Zelena and Cora. 

“Is anyone ever going to pull me up?” Rumple calls from the shaft.

David staggers over and Emma quickly goes to help.

“Where's Belle?” he asks immediately, seeing Emma’s grim face.

“Cora has her,” Emma says. “We have to find them.”

“No need,” Mary Margaret says, pointing to the door, where a winged monkey is sitting watching them. When they all look at him, he waves his arms and moves off, checking to see if they're following. 

Emma smiles grimly. “We're being summoned. I guess Cora’s ready for a showdown too.”

***

The monkey leads them round the side of the building and up the stairs of the old clock tower above the library. 

Emma very firmly asks Henry to stay downstairs but he pushes past her and rushes ahead of all of them, and she has no option but to give chase. 

Their little group reaches the top, and then Emma sees them.

Cora, dagger in hand, looking fully recovered from her time in hell. Zelena, to her left, who bends to pet the monkey as it returns to her. Regina, to her right, looking pale, and who gets even paler when she sees Henry leading the charge. And Hook, in front of them, holding a knife to Belle’s throat.

“Let her go,” Emma says at once. 

“I don't think I will,” Hook replies, smirking. “You see, I've spent years trying to get revenge on the crocodile. I wanted to kill him. But then my new friend Cora pointed out that there are more effective ways to hurt a man. As the Dark One taught me himself.” He dogs the knife in just a little and a small trickle of blood runs down Belle’s throat. “You see, I'll kill this girl you care so much about, and then, Cora is going to take away your powers. And you're going to be condemned to a life of misery knowing you caused the death of the woman you love.”

"Cora's not your friend," Emma says urgently. "She wants to kill Rumple to take his power!”

Hook turns to Cora but she just rolls her eyes. “What does it matter to you? He still watches her die and he suffers too!”

Belle uses the brief moment of inattentiveness and slams her elbow into Hook’s side. The knife scrapes her throat but Belle pushes him always as hard as she can and Emma rushes to her and pulls her away. 

Hook let's out a howl of anger and pulls his sword. Emma ducks his first swing and pulls a stake from her belt. “Protect Rumple!” she yells to the others. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Regina moving to Henry, pulling him into her arms, and Mary Margaret and David rallying around Rumple. 

Emma grabs Hook’s legs and he slams to the floor. She almost manages to stake him but just before she slams her hand down he says “Really? You're going to murder me?”

“Don't listen to him, Emma!” David shouts. “He's still a vampire who wants to kill you, even if he does have a soul.”

Emma tries to pull herself together, but she can't help but keep an eye on Henry and Regina and the others in her periphery. 

She sees Belle being thrown down the first flight of stairs by Cora, as if she's just flicking her wrists. She sees David’s sword snapped in two in a green cloud of Zelena’s magic. 

Her brief moment of inattentiveness costs her. Suddenly Hook has grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the window. “Emma!” Regina yells, sounding terrified. 

Emma tries to pull her strength and push him away but she can't focus. There's too much going on, too many people to protect. 

“Get your hands off my daughter!” 

Suddenly Emma can breathe again, and she falls to the floor gasping and clutching at her throat.

There's the sound of glass smashing, and then everyone pauses. Emma looks up to see that the clock face has smashed. Mary Margaret is standing at the hole surrounded by shards, and Hook, Hook is…

Emma gets to her feet and peers out over the edge. But Hook is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there's a pile of ashes right below them, around the edge of the picket fence which surrounds the library.

“I didn't mean to kill him,” Mary Margaret whispers. “I just wanted to get him off you!”

“You saved my life,” Emma quickly reassures her. Mary Margaret won't be any use to any of them if she falls apart now.

“Get out of the way, Regina,” she hears Cora says behind her and she whips around to see where Regina is shielding Rumple. 

“Don't do this, Mother,” Regina pleads with her. “You don't have to do this.”

Cora sighs and waves her arms. Regina is suddenly up in the air, hanging with her arms outstretched like she's tied to an invisible crucifix with invisible rope. 

“Mother!” Zelena says, shocked. “Maybe we should at least think about-“

“I see you're just as disappointingly weak as your sister,” Cora sneers in response. “What do I have to do to teach you girls that power is the most important thing? Nothing else is worth living for. Don't settle for anything less than the best you can be.”

Zelena’s eyes fill with tears. “You said you were proud of me, of what I had become!”

“I have said a lot of things to get here,” Cora says, walking slowly towards Rumple and running the tip of the dagger across his cheek. “I have said and done a lot of things to become who I am now. Who I will be in a few moments.” 

“Mother!” Regina tries again, wriggling against the bonds that have bound her. 

Zelena wipes at her eyes. Her face is pale and she's trembling. Emma wonders if this is the first time she's ever truly looked at Cora.

“That dagger will destroy everything out love,” Rumple says quietly. “Every good thing in your life. You'll be addicted to it and you won't be able to stop using it.”

“I'm not weak like you are, Rumplestiltskin,” Cora replies. “I made sure to remove any love from myself long ago.”

Zelena gasps again. Tears are streaming freely over her green face. 

Cora slowly lowers Regina to the ground. “Shut her up,” she tells her, nodding to Zelena. “Her snivelling is ruining my transformation.”

Obviously accustomed to Regina just doing as she's told, Cora pays her no mind as Regina walks dumbly towards Zelena. 

Emma waves at her and gestures to the box in her waistband. Regina’s eyes go very wide.

“Now then, Rumple,” Cora is saying, circling him. “Any last words?”

Rumple glances down the stairs to where Belle is still lying, crumbled in a heap. “None that you are worthy to hear.”

Cora shrugs. “Your loss.”

She raises the dagger.

“Catch!” Emma shouts, and throws the box to Regina. 

Cora turns around in surprise but Regina already has the box open. She barely hesitates for a second before she's grabbed the heart firmly in her hand. 

For a moment, Emma thinks she's not going to be able to put it back in. And she can see that same thought reflected on all of their faces. All of them, that is, except Henry, who has ducked away from behind David, and walks towards her.

“It’s ok, Mom,” he says, rubbing her arm. “You can do it. I believe in you.”

Regina smiles weakly and takes a deep breath, then plunges her hand and the heart into her mother’s chest.

For a second, nothing happens. Then Regina’s hand pulls back out and Cora collapses on the floor. 

"Mother!” Zelena shouts, rushing to her side. 

Tears are streaming over Cora’s face, which has gone worryingly red. Emma wonders if putting a heart in after this long can cause a heart attack or something.

And then Cora is clawing at her chest, screaming. “Take it out take it out,” she cries. “Oh, I can't take it! It hurts, it hurts!”

Horrified, Emma looks at Regina, who is trembling. 

“The cuff,” David says quietly. “Put the cuff on her so she can't take it back out.”

Emma moves quickly. She slams the cuff around the small, boney wrist, and then grasps Zelena’s arm and puts one on her too.

Zelena doesn't even resist. She's crying, shaking her mother. 

“What did you do?” she yells at Regina.

“Stopping her from becoming the Dark One!” Regina shouts back. “Forcing her to feel the feelings she's been running away from for decades.”

“Regina?” Cora moans. “Oh god, Regina. I'm so sorry, I'm so-“

Regina shakes her head. “I can't listen to this.”

Zelena bends forward greedily. “Mother?”

“Zelena?” Cora is still trembling, face wet with tears. “Oh!” Her body convulses again in pain. 

“Call an ambulance,” Emma tells David. “Belle’s still knocked out and I reckon we need to get Cora checked out before we decide where to put her.”

She looks around and notices that Regina is gone. Henry points to the stairs.

“I'll go check on her,” Emma says quickly. 

She steps over Belle who is, thank god, stirring, and down to the floor below where Regina is standing, arms wrapped around herself, looking out over the town. It's a grey, cloudy day, and the vamps are taking chances to dash about during daylight hours. 

“Are you ok?” Emma asks, feeling stupid immediately. “I mean, that was pretty intense.”

Regina gives her a long look. Emma is starting to feel really self conscious.

“I’m really sorry you had to do that,” Emma says and then Regina moves forward and pulls her into a hug.

“Thank you,” Regina whispers. “Thank you for believing in me.”


	8. Part 8

The next few days are a blur. 

Cora is released after a day of observation in the hospital and after some debate they decide to temporarily house her in the cells for psychiatric patients. Storybrooke doesn't have a prison and for obvious reasons can't hand her over to the Bangor police department to be sent to their one, so this will have to do. 

Regina offers to let Zelena stay with her, under house arrest, but Zelena calls her a traitor and instead asks to be put in a cell as well.

It's not a permanent solution but at the moment they have bigger things to worry about. 

Like the fact that Storybrooke has become overrun with demons. 

The day after they capture Cora, when Emma is actually feeling pretty good about herself, the first murder by vampire in seven years happens. It's awful, especially because instead of just sucking her dry, they've turned Ariel into one of them. She attacks her fiancé, and he barely makes it out alive. 

Emma's never had to slay someone she knows before. This is a sweet, polite girl who says hi on the street and tutors kids from the High school for free. And Emma has to stake her. 

That pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the week. There are so many attacks they stop recording them and work on a triage system where Emma only goes to the attacks that sound most serious. She balks at this initially but when she almost faints on Fyarl demon after 25 hours of straight patrolling, Mary Margaret confiscated her stake and locks her in the spare room. Granted, Emma could easily break out, but she's exhausted.

She barely has time to see Henry. He calls her every day though, telling her about school (when it's not closed, which is becoming more frequent as the days go on) and how his Mom is doing.

Emma tries not to spy on Regina through Henry, but she's worried. She's barely spoken to her since that day in the clock tower, although they've seen each other on patrol. 

She's tried texting Regina, but Emma has discovered that Regina doesn't really know how to do that. Emma will send her a massive paragraph about her day, then ask how Regina is doing, and get back a ‘well, thank you’.

She longs to go over to Mifflin Street and talk to her, see how she's doing with everything, but every minute Emma spends away from patrolling is a minute that risks the lives of the people in town. 

She's pretty sure Regina feels the same way, because she's kicking some major ass as Mayor. 

The curfew imposed by the Watchers has now been officially sanctioned by Regina, and she’s been going round every single resident’s house and performing basic spells to protect them against demon intrusion. According to Mary Margaret, she's already about a quarter of the way through. She must be exhausted.

Meanwhile, David and Mary Margaret have been helping Emma with patrolling and the like, which is both a blessing and a curse.

Emma admits that it's nice to have someone with her in the field and to come home to a home cooked meal with people who understand what she's been up to and are supportive, but she also feels sometimes like they're being overly enthusiastic and supportive to make up for the past.

Which they are not talking about. It seems that the two of them have decided that Emma living with them temporarily is too precious to disturb with pesky conversations about how they got here. 

Emma's very relieved by that. She's a master at avoiding difficult talks but it's easier when she doesn't have to.

So it catches her off guard when Mary Margaret knocks on the door to the spare room one morning after Emma returns from a long night of patrolling. 

She's looking forward to just getting in the shower and washing all of this sticky blue demon blood off her arms and jumps when she hears a voice.

"Hey," Mary Margaret says behind her. “Busy night?”

Emma shrugs. “It was ok. Not much Vamp action but these blue amphibious demons have sprung up all over town and their favourite food is dogs so I thought I'd better get rid of them before Dr Hopper calls to say that Pongo’s been eaten.”

Mary Margaret gives her a proud smile and Emma quickly looks at the floor.

“So,” Mary Margaret says, deceptively causally, “did you see Regina out last night?”

Emma looks at her curiously. “Just from a distance. She was proofing Phillip and Aurora’s house and this group of vampires tried to take her, but she just set them on fire with one of her fire balls.”

She smiles at the memory. Regina in all her kick ass vamp slaying glory really is a sight to behold.

Mary Margaret smiles again. “And how is she?”

“I didn't manage to talk to her. Why? Is something wrong?”

Mary Margaret shakes her head. “No, no, I was just wondering.” But she's still got that suspicious look on her face.

“Ok, out with it,” Emma sighs. So much for her relaxing shower.

“I-saw-you-two-kissing-in-the-clock-tower,” Mary Margaret says in one breath. 

“Oh.” Emma doesn't know what to say. She doesn't even know what she and Regina are doing, let alone how to explain it to Mary Margaret. And what if Regina doesn't want people to know that she enjoys making out with the Slayer at every available opportunity? She's a pretty private person so this probably isn't the kind of thing she's want a blabber mouth like Mary Margaret to know. And god knows what Henry will make of it.

Emma's caught off guard when Mary Margaret throws her arms around her. “Oh Emma,” she sniffles, “I know I should have given you time to tell me yourself but I just wanted you to know how happy I am. Regina really deserves to be happy and so do you, more than anything, and I just, just-“ she breaks off, crying in earnest.

“Erm,” Emma says, unsure how to handle this, “there, there?” She pats her woolly shoulder. “But, erm, Regina and I, it’s kind of complicated and we haven't actually talked about anything yet, so maybe don't say anything to anyone.”

“My lips are sealed,” Mary Margaret says with water eyes. “I promise. I just wanted to tell you how happy we are for you.”

“We?” Emma asks weakly.

“Oh, David won't say anything, I promise,” Mary Margaret says quickly. “He's happy that you're happy, even if he's had some problems with Regina in the past.”

Somehow Emma doubts that very much, but she still smiles weakly in response. “Erm, thanks. Just, you know, don't get too excited. We haven't even been on a date yet.”

“What?!” Mary Margaret looks scandalised. 

“Well, it's been kind of busy around here!” she defends herself. “I can't exactly take her on a date to the crypt, can I?”

In response, she gets a long, hard look.

*** 

Which is how, the next night, Emma finds herself in a black dress she's borrowed from Mary Margaret (which was, incidentally, the only black thing that woman owns), holding some slightly crushed tulips curtesy of some roadside slaying on route, ringing on the doorbell to Regina's house.

It's Henry that opens.

“Hey,” Emma says, blushing immediately. “Erm, your Mom and I, we were just going to hang out a little.”

Henry puts his hands on his hips. “And what are your intentions towards her?” he asks, very seriously.

Emma gulps.

“Henry, you can stand down,” Regina calls from the top of the stairs. 

Emma's mouth goes dry as Regina walks towards her. She's in red, which is possibly the sexiest thing Emma’s ever seen. 

“You look nice,” she manages. Henry gives her a pitying look.

“As do you,” Regina replies. She turns to Henry. “Now, Red will be here in ten minutes. Call me if she isn't, ok? And bed at 10.”

“But Mom, I haven't even gotten round to asking you what _your_ intentions are yet!”

Emma laughs, relieved and kind of touched. Looks like Regina’s had the ‘going on a date with your birth mother’ chat with him already.

“We're going to eat and talk a little.”

Emma smiles at him. “I'll keep her safe, promise.”

Regina raises an eyebrow. “This is from the woman who almost staked herself last night.”

“Who told you that?” Emma cries, outraged. “You’re such a traitor, Henry.”

Henry laughs. “Be home by eleven!” he says, going for a stern voice.

Regina gives him her warmest smile, and Emma feels herself go kind of mushy. Disgusting. She needs to pull herself together.

“Have a good evening, sweetheart,” she says, kissing him on the top of the head.

Emma wiggles her fingers and leads Regina to the car. 

“Soooo,” she starts, suddenly feeling awkward. 

Regina gives her a long look. “Don't tell me you didn't even come up with a plan?”

“No, no, I did!” Emma quickly says. “Mary Margaret wouldn't have let me leave the house without one!”

They get into the bug, but before Emma can turn on the ignition Regina turns to her, looking serious. “I hope that Mary Margaret hasn't pressured you into this because she's obsessed with romantic comedies and finding everyone's ‘happy ending’.”

"Ok, which of the times we've made out have given you the impression that I don't want this?” Emma asks incredulously. “I'm just a bit nervous.”

Regina smiles at that. “Well, alright then.”

Emma takes that as an invitation and turns on the ignition.

They drive down Mifflin Street and then take a right into the woods and up the slope by the old quarry. When they get to the top, with Storybrooke sparkling below, Emma pulls to a stop.

“We're here,” she says nervously. “I know you were probably expecting a nice restaurant but to be honest when I'm out in public these days I tend to get dragged into slaying and that's not really date material so I thought a picnic up here might be nice.”

Regina reaches out and touches her hand. “It's perfect.”

Emma sags with relief and reaches to the back seat to pull out the picnic basket, full of goodies from Granny’s. 

“Let’s eat outside?” Regina says suddenly. “It's nice to be able to see the stars.”

“It's a bit cold,” Emma says but obediently follows her. And then wants to slap herself because she's forgotten that she's on a date with a witch. A minute later they're sat on a log together with a fire crackling merrily next to them. 

“So, how are you doing?” Emma asks tentatively. “With your mom and all.”

Regina takes a long drink of coffee from the flask. “Fine, I suppose. I went to see her and Zelena the other day.” The fire throws shadows on her face, making her look very tired. “Mother was almost incoherent. She's been flooded with all the emotion she's been suppressing for almost thirty years. But sooner or later she’ll adjust, and she'll still be the woman who hurt me over and over again.” She looks thoughtfully up at the sky. “I can see she's sorry, but she still did those things.”

Emma nods. “And Zelena?”

Regina laughs bitterly. “She hates me. Rumple told Mother that the prophecy wasn't about Zelena after all and now Zelena has something else to blame me for.”

“It's not fair,” Emma says. “You could have had a sister. “ Emma has always wanted a sister, or a brother. Someone to share her fate with, even if they're parents were gone.

Regina shrugs. “I'm angry with her too. She tried to hurt Henry. And she's delusional if she really thinks my life was any easier than hers.”

There's a crackling behind them and they both turn around. Regina raises her hands and immobilises the two vampires, and Emma grabs her stake and jabs them one after the other.

“Sorry,” she says, jogging back to the log. “Bad timing.”

Regina shakes her head. “Don't worry. Let's talk about something else. How are you getting on with David and Mary Margaret?”

Emma shrugs. “To be honest, I have no idea. I think they're really great people, and when I forget that they're my parents I feel like we could be really good friends. But it's hard to get past that they actually thought the best thing for me was to leave me all alone at the side of a highway.

Regina nods. “I certainly am not the biggest fan of Mary Margaret Blanchard and her idiot husband,” she begins, “but I do know that they love you very much. All those years we were stuck, they talked of very little else.”

Emma wipes at her eyes. “Ok, that's enough deep chat for one date,” she says, trying to laugh off her watery eyes. 

Regina gently pats her arm. “Alright. What would you like to talk about now?”

Emma looks at her, smirking slightly. Regina looks back, eyes glittering in the firelight. 

*** 

“There's still a twig in your hair,” Regina tells her when they get back into the car. 

Emma reaches for it and winces. It's properly tangled in there.

“You're jacket is on back to front,” she replies, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out.

Regina looks down. “No it isn't!”

“Made you look, though,” Emma grins. 

“Is this the level of humour I can expect from now on?” Regina replies, but she's smiling the lightest smile that Emma has ever seen on her face.

Turns out all it takes is some kissing and semi-public groping at a local natural beauty spot.

“We're cutting it fine for Henry’s curfew,” Emma jokes.

“If he's still up to notice that, then he's seriously missed his own bedtime,” Regina replies, “so I wouldn't worry.”

Emma laughs. She hasn't felt this light in years. 

And then a shadow races out in front of their car. It's a huge demon, with what looks like a deer in its mouth. 

“Oh for god’s sake,” Emma curses. “All I wanted was one night off.”

“Well, once we figure out a way to shut the Hell Mouth, things will quieten down,” Regina says reassuringly. 

Emma sighs and pulls her sword out from the floor by the back seat. “I’d better got take care of this before any more Bambis get killed.”

“Do you need help?” Regina asks. 

But Emma shakes her head. “I don't make ladies slay on the first date. Go home to Henry and get some rest.”

Regina tilts her head and gives her a smile. “Alright then.” And then Emma has to fumble so as not to impale herself on the sword when Regina gives her a goodbye kiss. 

“Oh man,” she groans, when Regina releases her mouth and disappears in a cloud of smoke. “This Hell Mouth is so inconvenient.”

***  
“Ah ha!”

Emma jumps about a mile in the air, dropping her sword and almost slipping on the demon guts spread over the ground.

“Jesus Red, what the hell?” Then Emma looks up at the sky. “What are you doing out? It's the night before full moon! Weren’t you watching Henry?”

Red laughs. “Regina made me a potion which helps me control the wolf.” She sniffs at Emma. “Talking of Regina, is that her Chanel No 5 I smell on you?”

Emma really, really tries not to make any sort of expression, but Red still goes “Ah ha!” again.

“Stop that!” Emma says, but she can't deny the smile that spreads over her face. 

“I'm really happy for you, Emma,” Red says genuinely. “You're really making a difference here, god knows what we'd do without you now the Hell Mouth is open, but you deserve some happiness as well.”

“I don't even know what we're doing,” Emma says quietly, suddenly relieved to talk to someone who isn't Mary Margaret about this. After all, Emma doesn't exactly have vast amounts of dating experience.

“I’d say it involves getting frisky in the wild, judging by the pinecone in your hair,” Red laughs. “No, but seriously, I can see why you two would be good for each other.”

“I just hope Henry doesn't freak out,” Emma says. “His opinion is the only one that matters to Regina. And I guess it's become pretty important to me as well, what he thinks.”

“He seemed pretty chill tonight,” Red says. “He pretty much thinks you're a super hero.”

Emma's pleased, though she tries to hide it. It's so strange, all these people that suddenly approve of what she does, think that she's doing good work. And Emma genuinely wants them to like her as well. She wants to help, to use her power for good. She's never felt like she fitted in, until she discovered Storybrooke.

She smiles all the way home, and sleeps like a log for the rest of the night. 

*** 

Emma’s post-date, isn't-life-good happiness lasts until exactly 10:47. Emma is just heading into the station, clutching the bearclaw that was outside her door this morning with a note- _‘Thanks for a lovely evening. Please join me and Henry for dinner tonight before your patrol. R-‘_. 

The sun is shining, and smoking vamps everywhere are taking cover. It's a perfect day. 

“Emma!” Belle says quietly, stepping into the light. She's clutching a huge book. “I've found something on the Hell Mouth.”

“Great!” Emma cheerfully wipes the crumbs off her chin. “Then I can finally properly take Regina out.”

Belle bites her lip, and Emma suddenly notices her gloomy demeanour. 

“Emma,” Belle says softly, “this spell, you're not going to like it.”

“What is it?” Emma steps towards her. “What's wrong?”

*** 

Hours later, Emma forces her face into position and knocks on the door. Henry answers, smiling, and pulls her in. 

“Mom, she's here!” he bellows.

“Thank you Henry,” Regina says dryly, “I’m sure the neighbours were delighted to hear that announcement.” She shares a look with Emma and smiles. Emma tries to smile back warmly. 

“I brought wine,” Emma says quickly, before Regina looks too long at her face and reads her expression. 

“Aren't you patrolling tonight?” Henry asks sharply. 

“Yes, Dad,” Emma says, laughing despite herself. “I'll only have one glass.”

“Henry, please show Emma her seat while I get the plates.”

“It smells great.” 

Henry pulls her past the kitchen and to the large table. “Mom’s lasagne is the best,” he agrees. 

After the first amazing bite, Emma manages to relax a little. She notices Regina's worried look when she downs half her wine glass in one go, but it does the trick and she begins to feel the knot of panic in her stomach that's been there all day fading into the background.

She'll find another way. There's always another way. Tonight, she'll just enjoy her time with Henry and Regina and this amazing lasagne. 

Henry chatters away, and Emma is extremely impressed that Regina can so easily follow all these names and stories and how they all fit together. After dinner, Henry does the washing up and Regina asks Emma into her study.

Emma's hands suddenly go clammy. The last thing she's been thinking about today is sex but even just a look from Regina across the table can apparently put her in the mood.

Regina shuts the door and asks her to sit. Before she can say anything, Emma pulls her down with her and begins to kiss her.

But somehow that fear that Emma was pushing away is still there, clawing its way between them. 

Emma knows she's kissing like she's drowning, not even giving them the chance to catch their breath. It's harder and faster than anything they've done before and Emma holds Regina so close she can feel her heartbeat hammering against Emma's chest.

“Wait,” Regina gasps, pulling her hand out from under Emma's shirt. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Emma takes a deep breath and releases her. “Sorry. I don't know what came over me.”

“Don't be sorry,” Regina replies. She sits back on the sofa. “I had a visit today. From Blue.”

Emma's stomach twists. “Blue?”

Regina looks at her carefully. “She told me about what Belle has found.”

Enraged, Emma leaps up. “I can't believe Belle. I told her to forget it. There's no way we're doing that.”

“Emma, we may not have a choice,” Regina says softly. “Believe me, I'm not thrilled. But this is my responsibility. I have to clean up my mess.”

“It's not just your mess, though!” Emma rages. “What about Rumple?”

“Rumple doesn't have the power to do this, Emma. It needs a special kind of magic. It needs to be a witch. And I'm the only one who can do this in Storybrooke, I'm afraid.”

“Regina,” Emma says earnestly. “We will find another way. I'll search the whole goddamn world if I have to go get someone else who can do this, this-“

“Summoning,” Regina supplies. “Emma, it's not that simple. There are few witches familiar enough with the dark arts to do something like this.”

“You'll die!” Emma shouts. “Do you understand that? You will die if you do this.”

“We don't know that for sure,” Regina replies. “And if we don't get the Hell Mouth under control soon, we're all doomed. Three people were attacked today and are in critical condition. Dr Whale said that it's unlikely that Ava is going to make it through the night. And it's only going to get worse. It's going to spread out. Do you want the whole world to be overrun?”

“Do you want to die?” Emma counters. “Is this what this is about? What the hell is wrong with you? Henry needs you here.”

“Leave Henry out of this,” Regina says, annoyed. “And stop making this about me. You know that this needs to be done and I'm the one to do it.”

“No.” Emma crosses her arms. “Absolutely not. Belle said that that blood oath thing means you'll die if you try, and that there's no way to release you from it.”

“The terms of the oath are somewhat ambiguous,” Regina responds, “and if you've come up with a better solution please tell me. How does the Slayer intend to get control of Storybrooke?”

“Regina, there is no way I'm letting you do this!”

“Letting me?” Regina stands up, face red. “This is _my_ decision, not yours. This is not up to you. I'll find a way around the blood oath.”

“Don't you understand that I want to protect you here?” Emma shouts in frustration. “It's too dangerous.”

“What's going on?” Henry asks from the door. 

Regina glares at Emma like it's all her fault, like she was the only one yelling. Emma glares right back.

“Nothing, sweetheart.” She gives Emma a hard look that dares her to contradict her. “Emma needs to leave now though.”

Emma growls. “We're not done here, Regina.”

“I think we are.” Regina turns to Henry. “Say goodnight.”

Before Emma can protest, Regina has waved her arms and transported her outside David and Mary Margaret’s building. 

*** 

When she gets in the front door she's still fuming, and it doesn't help that Belle is sitting there drinking tea with Mary Margaret when she gets in.

“What part of ‘don't tell Regina about this’ is so hard for you to understand?” Emma growls the minute she walks in.

“Emma,” Mary Margaret says warmly. “Do you want some tea?”

Emma ignores her.

“I'm so sorry,” Belle says quickly. “I went to Blue after I talked to you, I wanted to know whether there's any way around the blood oath. I was trying to help. I didn't know she'd go straight to Regina and convince her that it's her duty to do this. When I found out I came straight here.”

Emma let's out a cry of frustration. “Well, Blue was very effective. Regina thinks this is the only way. She thinks there's a way for her not to trigger the blood oath.”

“What's going on?” Mary Margaret asks, worried. 

“Belle found a spell-“

“A summoning,” Belle corrects.

“A summoning,” Emma growls, “which can shut off the Hell Mouth. The problem is that apparently only Regina can cast it, and because it involves dark magic she'd be breaching the terms of her blood oath with Blue and that pretty much means she'll die.”

Mary Margaret gasps. “Oh no! There has to be another way.”

“That's what I said,” Emma says. “But Regina is dead set on this. I think she feels guilty for having opened the Hell Mouth back in the day.”

Mary Margaret nods. “It's probably seeing Cora here as well. She still feels guilty over not being punished for what she did during her dark time. You should have seen her just after the curse was cast. She hardly left the mansion for years. She was crushed with guilt.”

“So she thinks killing herself is a way to atone?” Emma feels tears of frustration prickling in her eyes. “Dammit, I'm not letting her do this. Please help me find another way,” she begs Belle. 

“I'll try,” Belle replies. “But Emma, we’re running out of time. Five more people were attacked today, and Cruella’s dogs were killed in some sort of demon ritual. The town’s overrun.”

Emma nods. “I know, I know. But I can't lose her. Not after everything that's happened. Henry needs her. I need her.”

Mary Margaret gets up and wraps her in a hug, and for the first time, Emma submits completely, tears flowing over her face.

*** 

The following night is probably the worst night of Emma's life. The worry and panic about Regina lies heavily in her stomach but she has to keep patrolling. 

Although by now it's not so much patrolling as it is outright war between humans and demons.

Red is savagely mauled by a pack of werewolves after she transforms to try and help Emma, and is taken to the hospital in critical condition. David has his arm broken by three demons who try to drag him to the lake and turn him into some sort of reptile, and Mary Margaret is forced to shoot a winged monkey in self-defence who turns out to be a young girl when she falls to the floor dead in her human form. 

It's carnage. Regina is out as well, leading her coven, but apart from Regina they're not really all that skilled, and Mal, the second most powerful witch, is still under the library trying to help her daughter get control of her dragon.

Emma hears a shout and sees Regina get thrown into the clock tower. Emma gasps and stops looking at the demon she was in the middle of fighting, resulting in a huge plank whacking her in the head. 

“She's ok,” Belle yells, throwing holy water over the vampire in front of her.

Emma tries to focus back on her demon, but she can't help but look up to Regina every few minutes. She looks alright apart from the small cuts from the glass, and has poofed herself right back into the fray, but Emma's heart is still beating far too quickly from the shock.

By dawn, the vampires are retreating and the other demons are easier to see. The streets are littered with demon body parts. And the worst part is that right at this moment, there's more of them coming up, ready for the next fight.

“We can't do this for another night,” Blue groans as a paramedic pushes her dislocated shoulder back into place. “We need to shut the Hell Mouth.”

Emma agrees but she won't say so. She's not giving Regina an excuse to do this. She glances at Belle to see if she's had any luck finding another spell, but Belle bites her lip and shakes her head apologetically.

“Regina,” says Blue, “we have to do it today.”

Regina looks resigned. 

“People are dying,” Blue continues. “A child died today. Next time it could be Henry.”

“Stop it!” Emma snaps. She's had enough. “You manipulative asshole, stop making her feel like she has to sacrifice her own _life_ to do this!”

“If she doesn't do this, we're all going to die.” 

Emma looks at Ursula incredulously. “I thought you were here friend?”

“I am!” Ursula pats Regina’s shoulder. “But Emma, surely you must see this too. When the Hell Mouth truly breaks open, the whole world will be overrun. At the moment it's still localised, but they're getting stronger. Soon it will be too late.”

“Emma,” Regina says softly. “Emma, it's alright. I think I always knew I would have to pay for the things I've done. And now, at least, I can do it knowing that my son loves me, and that I've left him in good hands.”

“Regina, no!” Mary Margaret says. “We can't let you do this.”

“Why not?” Regina smiles weakly. “Isn't this what you did when you agreed to be cursed without your daughter for 28 years?”

“What are you going to say to Henry?” Emma demands. “Regina, he needs you!”

Regina reaches out and gently touches Emma's cheek. “I'm sorry,” she says, so softly that no one else can hear her. “I'm sorry it's going to end this way. But I'm not sorry that I got to know you a little. And I'm glad that it'll be you who takes care of him now.” She glances at her watch. “I need to get the ingredients and prepare. And I need to see Henry. I won't tell him exactly what's happening or he'll try to come with us. But I would like it if you could be there with me.”

Emma is shaking her head, as if she's trying to get rid of an annoying fly. “Regina, no! Stop talking like this. You're not going to die. There has to be another way, there has to!”

Regina just leans forward and places a soft kiss on her forehead. Emma hears the gasps all around them but she can't focus on anything or anyone but this infuriating, stubborn woman in front of her. 

“No,” she moans softly. She knows she must look a mess, face covered in dirt and sticky tears. “Regina, please. Please don't give up.”

“Please let me do this,” Regina replies, and now she's crying too. “This is the one chance I'll ever get to make up for what I did. The people I've hurt, who I've _killed_. I've lived as the evil witch. Please let me die as Regina.”

*** 

After Regina heads off to her Mausoleum to pick up some supplies, Emma still feels rooted to the spot. 

This is a nightmare and she needs to wake herself up. 

“Emma,” Mary Margaret says. “Emma, are you-“

“Please don't ask me if I'm alright,” she chokes out. 

Mary Margaret looks apologetic, and Emma notices that she's crying too.

“Emma, we need to get moving,” Belle says softly. “We need to move the demons in the cells under the hospital from outside the radius of the summoning if we don't want the demon Hades to suck them back in as well.”

“What did you say?”

Belle and Mary Margaret exchange worried looks. “The hospital? You know, where we locked Cora and that guy with the top hat who kept shoving people through portals?”

“I've got to go,” Emma says suddenly, and takes off at a run.

*** 

“What now?” Zelena says mockingly from her perch on the bed. She's engrossed in a book. _The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_. Well, that would certainly appeal to her appreciation of vengeance.

“Actually, I've come to let you out,” Emma says. “You need to take Cora far enough away that she doesn't get sucked in by the blast of the spell Regina is going to cast.”

“Finally figured out how to close the Hell Mouth then, has she?” Zelena sneers. 

Emma takes a deep breath. “She's summoning Hades so that he takes back all his demons and closes the Hell Mouth when he's done.”

“Summoning Hades, eh? That's pretty dark for a supposedly reformed witch.”

“Shut up or so help me god, I will throw you in the Hell Mouth myself,” Emma spits. She's not even having to pretend; there's enough terror and anger in her that she can easily draw on and throw at Zelena. “Regina is going to die doing this, and it's your fault for making her lift the curse before we had a way to stop the Hell Mouth.”

“Please, for a witch as powerful as Regina, summoning Hades is hardly going to kill her.” Zelena doesn't sound sure though, and Emma hopes, prays that there's something she can reach in there. 

“Regina entered a blood oath not to do dark magic. And summoning the head demon of the underworld is pretty dark, wouldn't you say?”

“No!” a voice comes through the bars of the window to the cell next door. Cora appears, face pale. She looks a lot better than the last time Emma saw her, and she's got some of her glower back in her eyes, but she's still clutching at her chest like her heart is in pain. 

“There's no one else powerful enough to do the spell,” Emma says. 

“Zelena,” Cora gasps. “Zelena, please. She's your sister.”

Zelena trembles and goes very pale. “I can't. You know I can't. I've never done magic like that. I'd get sucked in myself.”

“She's your sister!” Cora says, and Emma has to stop herself from walking over and punching her in the face.

“And she's your daughter!” she explodes. “Regina wouldn't want Zelena sacrificing herself for her! What is wrong with you? How can you pick one of your daughters over the other like this? When you're the only witch powerful enough to do this for Regina! You can save her!”

“I would have to stand right by the Hell Mouth to do this,” Cora says. “I’d get sucked in! Forever!”

“You would die,” Emma acknowledges. “But you would save Regina. The daughter you tormented to twist her into some dark model of yourself for your own ambition.”

Zelena is looking at Cora, mouth slightly open. Emma wonders if this is the first time she's really allowing herself to see her mother for who she really is. 

“I'm sorry, Slayer, but I'm not going to kill myself to save a world that has been against me since the day I was born. Not even for my daughter.”

Zelena clasps her hand to her mouth and Emma sags in defeat. She feels hollow.

“I'll come,” Zelena says quietly. “Maybe I can help her. Maybe that will be enough to stop the blood oath from taking effect.”

Emma nods. She knows it's hopeless but she thinks Regina will appreciate seeing Zelena anyway.

“Let's go then,” she says. “She'll be starting soon.”

They leave Cora behind in her cell. Emma reminds her that she's probably only got an hour to get herself out of the last radius, and then ushers a pale Zelena towards the mines.

***

When they get to the mines, David is outside with Henry, who is unconscious on a blanket outside. His face is pale and his eyes are swollen from crying. 

“It’s a sleeping spell,” David explains. “He was completely distraught, and wouldn’t stay behind, so Regina let him come but made him stay out here.”

Emma nods. “How is she?”

David shrugs. “She’s determined. I never thought I’d say this, but she seems like she’s dead set on making up for her past.”

Emma nods. She feels like there’s something large sitting on her chest. She hasn’t felt this hopeless maybe ever. She’s always been a fighter, a believer in ‘there’s always something you can do’. She’s a survivor. But then, Emma’s never had so many people she cares this much about. She’s never felt this responsible for the fate of others.

It's awful.

Zelena strides past her to the mines, and Emma follows after letting David squeeze her hand.

“I’m sorry, Emma,” he says sincerely. 

“I know,” she replies, stroking Henry’s head softly before climbing down into the tunnel.

There are a lot of people already here in the chamber with the Hell Mouth.

Mary Margaret and Graham are standing at the side, holding books and candles and crystals.

Blue and Belle are kneeling on the floor, drawing a complicated shape with chalk around the opening. 

And at the other side, Regina muttering over a bubbling cauldron. She looks up when they enter and her eyes go wide when she sees who Emma has brought. 

“I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier,” Emma says softly, walking over and taking Regina’s hand. “I was trying to find another way.”

Regina gives her a soft look. “It means a lot to me that you tried. Although I don't think Zelena would be able to do this, and it's too dangerous to try.”

“I can help you,” Zelena says, coming over to stand beside Emma. “I've never managed a successful summoning but if I give you some of my power maybe that will be enough?”

“There is no way that cuff is coming off!” Blue interjects.

“I swear, if you don't shut up right now I'm throwing you in Hell Mouth,” Emma growls at her.

“It won't be enough,” Regina says, but her expression is touched. “If the blood oath is going to take effect it will do it even if I only do a fraction of the spell. But thank you, for coming here and offering.”

There's an awkward moment, and then Zelena steps forward and gives Regina a brief, tense hug. 

“I'm sorry I hated you,” she says stiffly. “I realised today that I've been angry at the wrong person.”

“I'm sorry we didn't get the time to get to know each other,” Regina replies. “I hope you find happiness here.”

And then she turns to Emma. “Look after him,” she tells her, and her voice catches. “Tell him I'm sorry and that I love him more than anything. Please don't let him forget that.”

“Regina,” Emma chokes, and she knows she's crying as well. “I'm so sorry I couldn't find another way, I'm so, so sorry.” 

They embrace and Emma feels like something is crushing her rib cage. She can't believe this is happening. She keeps waiting for Belle to say ‘oh wait, I've found a different spell’, but she's just standing at the side, tears streaming down her face, silent.

And then Regina takes Emma's face gently in her hands and kisses her softly. 

This is goodbye.

Emma doesn't know how to do this. How is she going to tell Henry later that his mother is dead? That she couldn't save her?

What kind of Slayer is she?

Regina pulls away and Emma clenches her fists to stop herself from grabbing her. 

The Hell Mouth is already glowing kind of blue in the light of the crystals surrounding it, creating a temporary barrier to demons while the summoning is cast.

Regina steps into the centre of the circle and sits with her legs crossed. Belle gently places the book open in front of her and squeezes her hand.

Emma feels like she's going to throw up. Mary Margaret edges over and takes her hand, which Emma grips so hard it must be painful.

“Stop!”

Emma turns and sees Cora running down the tunnel towards them.

“Mother?” Regina says incredulously.

“Has she started?” Cora pants. “Regina, get out of that circle!”

Emma hurries over and helps Regina up. 

“I'm sorry,” Cora says. Emma can see she's crying. “It's been many, many years since I did something for someone else without it also benefitting me. I was so caught up in my own pain that I didn't say yes when the Slayer came to see me. But my heart hurt so much, Regina. I realised I have to do this. I have to do this for you and your sister.”

Emma feels Regina stumble and can see that her face has gone very pale. 

“I'll do it,” Cora tells Emma. “I'll cast the summoning.”

Emma's stomach clenche.

“You'll die,” Regina croaks. “If you do this, you will be sucked in and die, along with the rest of the demons that came out of the Hell Mouth.”

“And if I don't do it, you'll die.” Cora steps forward. “You're my daughter, Regina. I have never been very good at showing you and your sister how much you mean to me. I wasn't able to for a very long time. I separated myself from that feeling. I know I can't make up for that now. But I want to try.”

She turns to Zelena. “I'm sorry that I made you grow up in that place. I hope one day you will be able to forgive me and that you and your Regina can learn to love each other.”

Zelena reaches for Regina’s hand, who grasps it tightly. Emma, who still has a hand on Regina's back, can feel her shaking. 

“Mother,” Regina starts, but Cora shakes her head and wraps them both in an embrace. It's stiff and awkward but Emma sees Cora closing her eyes as she wraps her daughters in her arms.

“Now, let's get on with it before your wards around the Hell Mouth break.”

She holds out her wrist. 

“You are not seriously going to take her word for this are you?”

That's enough. 

Emma grapes Blue by the collar and drags her out of the cave. 

“This is outrageous! Unhand me immediately!” 

Emma throws her out of the mines at David’s feet. “If you come back inside you will regret it,” she snarls, and storms back inside.

Belle has removed Cora’s cuff and Cora is settling in to the circle. Regina and Zelena are holding hands at the side, both their faces wet with tears.

Emma can't imagine what this must be like for them. ‘Emotional rollercoaster’ seems like an understatement. She only hopes that Cora can do this. Emma doesn't think she could cope if this doesn't work and Regina has to do it after all.

“Hades, I summon thee,” Cora begins. “Hear my call. Come to our realm and seek your demons. Take them with you to the depths.”

The ground begins to shake, and Cora has to shout to be heard. “Hades, come forth from hell! Find your servants in our realm. Close this door, capture your servants.”

And then, the huge head of a man appears in the gap of the Hell Mouth. Except he's not a man. His skin is grey and dead looking, and his eyes are like pits of tar. There is nothing alive about this demon.

 

He opens his mouth and let's out a terrible scream. 

Emma falls to the shaking ground, covering her ears. She can see the others doing the same. Above her, there's the feeling of something flying over her.

All the demons that have escaped from the Hell Mouth, dead and alive, float past Hades and into the fiery gap between the worlds. Emma sees clouds of dust, being all the vampires she's slayed, flying by. 

Demons, werewolves, vampires, all continue overhead. It's like a flood and seems to go on for ages.

After what feels like hours, the air above them grows quieter and Emma looks up. The last few stragglers are being sucked into the portal, and Hades has turned his face to Cora. 

Cora gives her daughters a last look, and holds out her hand to Hades, who grasps it and pulls her with him into the portal, which seals itself behind them into nothingness.

For a second everything is still. And then the ground begins trembling again. 

“The tunnels are collapsing!” Belle shouts. Emma sees a massive boulder about shaking above Regina and Zelena. 

“Watch out!” she yells and runs to shove them out of the way.

And then everything goes black.

*** 

Her head is throbbing. That's the first thing that she notices when she opens her eyes and winces at the brightness. 

She's in hospital, that much is clear. Everything is white and sterile and smells of disinfectant.

And every bone in her body is aching. 

“Ouch,” she mutters, and suddenly Mary Margaret and David appear by her side. 

“Emma!”

“You're awake!”

Emma winces. “Sure am. Erm, what happened?”

“She's lost her memories,” Mary Margaret moans. “Oh David, what are we going to do?”

“She's not lost her memories, she just needs a minute,” David says calmly. “You were in the mines and they collapsed. Do you remember?”

Emma scrunches up her eyes and thinks. There was Cora. And Hades. And all of the demons. And –

“How's Regina?” Emma asks urgently.

“Regina is fine,” David smiles, patting her hand. “Thanks to you. Emma, we're so proud of you. You found a way to close the Hell Mouth and save Regina. You saves us all.”

Emma quickly looks away from their bright eyes which are wet with tears. This is all a lot of emotion for having just woken up. “Erm, thanks guys,” she says awkwardly.”

“Emma!” Henry rushes in and hugs her. Emma tries not to wince when he jostles her but he notices. “Sorry! Mom told me to be careful.”

“It's ok,” she says, smiling. “Are you alright? Is your Mom?”

“Oh, Regina’s bloody marvellous,” Zelena’s voice sounds from the door where she's sitting in a wheelchair and her left left propped up and in a cast. “Now that you're awake she can stop driving me crazy and start hovering around you. Of course, she's the one that opens the Hell Mouth and I'm the one it lands on when it collapses. Hey, Regina, come here! Your Slayer is awake!”

Before Emma can say anything, Regina swoops into the room. She looks tired and pale, but she sees that Emma is awake she beams and Emma's stomach flops.

“Emma!”

“Hey,” she says softly. “How are you?”

“That should really be my question,” Regina replies, still giving her that gentle look.

Mary Margaret clears her throat noisily. “Well, I'm just dying for a coffee,” she says loudly. “David, would you like one?”

“Oh, erm, absolutely,” he says uncertainly, after a stern look from his wife. 

“Henry, a hot chocolate?”

“Yes please! I really don't need to see any kissing.”

“Henry!” Regina splutters. 

Emma feels her cheeks going red.

“Please take me too,” Zelena mutters. “I've been scarred for life enough, I don't need to see this too.”

And with that, they're alone.

Regina walks towards her and perches on the edge of the bed.

“Are you really ok?” Emma asks. “I mean, about everything? Is Zelena alright?”

Regina shakes her head. “You are unbelievable. I told you there was no other way, and you just went and found one.”

“I'm sorry about your Mom,” Emma says quickly, guiltily thinking that she doesn't really mean that. “But Henry needs you.” She pauses. “And I’m not done with you yet either.”

For a moment they don't move, and then Regina's mouth is on hers and her hands are cupping Emma's face and suddenly her head doesn't hurt so much. 

They only pull apart when Emma winces following Regina’s elbow accidentally hitting her ribcage. 

“I'm sorry,” Regina husks. “I know you're hurt. Dr Whale said for anyone but the Slayer these injuries would have been life threatening.”

“I've had worse,” Emma replies, and, seeing Regina's stricken face, reaches for her hand. “I'm ok, I promise. I'm just glad you're ok.”

“It means a lot to me, that you went to those lengths to try and help me. That you didn't give up on me.”

Emma smiles. “You were willing to sacrifice yourself for all of us. It was the least I could do. Plus, now I finally get to take you on a proper date.”

Regina shakes her head. “I think not. Since you organised the last one, I think it's best that _I_ take care of this one to ensure that actual furniture and cutlery will be involved.”

Emma laughs at her snooty tone. She feels light, giddy with relief. Even though she's constrained to the hospital bed, she feels more free than she has in weeks.

In a couple of days she'll leave this bed. The town will get back to normal. She'll see Henry, she'll go back to work. She'll patrol and stake the odd vampire. And she'll get to know this Regina, the most interesting woman she's ever met. 

For the first time maybe ever, she's making a home.

And sure, its not all easy being the Slayer. But looking at Regina, she thinks that it sure has its perks.


	9. Epilogue

It's too easy. 

That's what he crosses his mind immediately when he reaches the _Welcome to Storybrooke_ sign. 

The curse is supposed to stop people from finding the town. His bag on the back of his bike has got all the ingredients for a revealing spell and he’s been preparing for a long couple of days searching Maine for the entrance. 

Instead, there are road signs, arrows, and now, the town sign, looking just like it did all those years ago when a crying Mary Margaret had thrust Emma into his arms and Blue had wished him good luck before sending him in the general direction of Bangor.

Except now he's not a child anymore. He's got a motorcycle, and a manuscript, and he's not going to let the Council bully him anymore. 

So there.

He revs his engine and slowly heads towards the town. The sun is almost completely set and he wonders whether any vampires are left after all this time stuck in the bubble of Storybrooke. He knows that it's easier for them to get in than for humans, but it seems like a lot of effort just for some dinner with all the other towns nearby.

He's almost at the start of Main Street and can see the cottage that Mal had lived in back in the day. She used to scare him so much.

Although, he reminds himself, nothing much will have changed here, in the bubble of the curse. 

He's got older but no one else will have.

It's strange to think that people like Miss Blanchard, who knew him when he was so young, will be pretty much the same age as him now. 

God, Belle, who he used to look up to, and Ruby, the girl who used to babysit him, will be younger than him now.

It makes his brain hurt so he stops trying to make sense of it.

And then, as he turns the corner, something whacks into him and knocks him off his bike.

Luckily he's not going fast and he's got his helmet on, but he still lands hard in the woods and winces both from the impact and from the sound of his precious ride scraping along then road.

“Quick, Regina!” a voice calls, and a blast of purple magic hurls it's way down the road towards the _giant flying monkey_ that had knocked August down.

And then several people come round the corner. Leading the charge is Regina, arms outstretched and magic pouring from them. The monkey is immobilised and slowly lowers to the ground. Just behind her is David Blanchard, with a huge animal net in his hands. 

And between them is Emma. Wearing that same leather jacket she had on the day she punched him in the face for bribing her pizza delivery man to take her her food and then painstakingly arranging the pepperoni and mushrooms to say ‘Slayer’.

But she's different to that Emma in many ways. She's got a cross bow strapped to her back, stakes in her belt next to a sword, and she seems to be not at all phased by the monkey or the magic.

As the winged monkey hits the ground, David throws the net over it and Emma uncorks a small flask and throws a shimmering potion over it. It immediately transforms into Alice, the lady who runs the post office. She looks pretty confused.

“I thought Zelena said we got them all last night?” Emma asks.

“She has memory lapses when it suits her,” Regina replies, watching as David and Emma help Alice up. 

“I'll take her past the hospital to get checked out,” David says. “Do you guys need a ride?”

Regina shakes her head. “I need to go pick up Henry and start on dinner.” She turns to Emma. “Will you be long patrolling?”

Emma shakes her head. “I'll just do a quick graveyard sweep,” she says. And then leans over and places a kiss on Regina’s mouth. A proper kiss. With closed eyes and hands on each other's arms and shoulders and sliver of tongue. Then she disappears in a cloud of purple smoke.

August gulps. What the hell is going on? Magic means the curse has been lifted. And Emma, the Slayer, is kissing the evil witch…

“Well hello there, gorgeous,” a voice behind him says. “What a yummy dinner.”

He whips around and comes face to face with a vampire.

August hasn't faced one in almost 6 years. The last time was that ill-fated night in New Orleans after Mardi Gras, when he'd managed to stake the lead singer of the band performing in the bar he's been drinking in with a pool cue. 

He scrambles forward but the vampire follows him. And freezes.

“Duck!” Emma yells, and August complies automatically. Something whizzes over his head and ash sprinkles over him as the stake pierces the vamp’s heart.

“You ok there?” Emma asks, and then gasps as she sees his face. “August?”

He slowly gets to his feet, flexing his limbs to make sure none are broken. “Hi, Emma. I see you made it here without me.”

Ema throws her head back and laughs. “Regina is going to be sorry she missed this. She finds all the stories of you trying to tell me that I'm the Slayer hilarious.”

“Well, in my defence, I had only just started my Watcher training,” August grumbles, “and you didn't exactly make it easy for me.”

“In my defence, I thought you were stalking me,” Emma replies.

August looks at her now that she's closer. She looks good. The last time he saw her she had this really hard, cold look etched onto her face, like no one could reach her.

But now her face is softer, somehow. Her eyes are laughing. And she's clearly in great shape – even through her leather jacket he can see her muscles.

She easily lifts his bike and sets it at the side of the road. “We'll get someone from the garage to swing by for it,” she says. “I'll walk you into town. Where are you headed?”

August shrugs. He hasn't really thought that far yet. “Erm, Head Quarters, I guess?”

Emma frowns. “Now might not be the best time. They're electing a new Head Watcher.”

“What happened to Blue?” August never liked her but she can't be that old. Judging by Regina the curse can't have been lifted that long ago.

“Let's just say that she realised it was time to step aside, if she wanted the Slayer to keep working with the Council,” Emma replies. Her voice has an edge to it now, more like the way she used to be.

August struggles to take this in. “So who is the new Head Watcher going to be?”

Emma smiles. “My money's on Belle. She was amazing during the Hell Mouth stuff and everyone really respects her. I'll be sad to lose her as my Watcher but she'll still be around to help.”

“Belle was your new Watcher?” Even though he's long decided that being a Watcher is not for him, he still feels oddly jealous. 

“Belle and Graham were jointly doing it,” Emma explains. “Hey, you didn't come back here to be my new Watcher did you?”

August shakes his headband laughs at her horrified expression. “Don't worry, I've figured out for myself that the Watcher career isn't really for me. I honestly just figured I'd come back and let them know I failed, and that I quit. I've travelled a little, written a book since the last time I lost you, and I just want to move on.”

Emma nods. “Good for you. I'm really not keen on the whole destiny crap.”

“So how long have you been back?” August asks curiously. 

“Erm, about six or seven months, I guess,” Emma replies. “It's been about six since we closed the Hell Mouth.”

“The Hell Mouth was open?” August gapes. “But how-“

“Kind of a long story,” Emma replies. “And I’m going to be late for dinner if I don't hurry. But we can catch up tomorrow, ok?”

August nods, feeling a bit numb.

He can't believe that this all happened without him knowing about it. The Slayer found her way back to Storybrooke. The Hell Mouth opened, and was closed. Emma's been assigned new Watchers. The Council is changing leadership.

And all he's done is write a crime novel.

Before he can really question his choice, he heads to the convent. Might as well face the music. If the election is over, Belle might be softer on him than Blue was.

 

*** 

The next morning he’s sitting at Granny's, trying to eat his pancakes without making eye contact with one of the many people glaring at him. 

“Ignore them,” Belle whispers. “They have no right to blame you. You did your best.”

“And they've gotten to stay young for like an extra twenty eight years,” Graham chimes in, mouth full. “Like, calm down.”

Ashley refills their coffee, slamming August’s mug down as she does so. 

“Well, ok, I guess being nine months pregnant for all that time probably entitles you to being a little mad,” Graham amends. “But everyone else can fuck off.”

“You're August,” a boy who has suddenly appeared beside them says. “You were Emma's Watcher.”

August looks at him. “Who wants to know?”

And then he tries not to shrink into the booth as Regina appears behind the boy, placing her hand on his shoulder. 

“This is little August Booth, all grown up?” she asks. She sounds like she's laughing at him.

“Regina. Nice to see you again.”

“Hmmm. I must say I'm disappointed you haven't told me that via a radio shout-out or a choir of signing children.”

August goes red. “That was one time!”

“Stop bullying the poor guy,” Emma says as she walks up to them. She ruffles the kid’s hair and wraps an arm casually around Regina’s waist.

August tries not to stare. Sure, Regina is pretty much the hottest woman in town. But for most of his childhood she was also what his dad would use to get him to do things he didn't want. _Staying out after curfew is what gets little boys caught by Regina._

“I'm Henry Mills,” the boy says, sticking out his hand. “I brought Emma back to Storybrooke. She's my birth mom.”

August’s eyes almost bug out of his head. “What? You're the kid Emma gave up for adoption?”

Emma frowns. “It's so weird that you were just watching me for all that time. Thanks for letting me go to jail, by the way!”

“Ok, I was your Watcher, not your Dad,” August replied. “And also there's loads of vampires that hang around prisons. I was kind of hoping you'd meet one.”

Emma shakes her head but after a moment she's laughing again. 

“Sheriff Humbert,” Regina says sharply. “Now, I know for a fact that Sheriff Swan is not scheduled to be working right now, and with you here it begs the question of who is currently at the station.” 

Graham looks mournfully at his breakfast but sighs. “I guess I'd better leave. Training later, Emma?”

“You bet!” 

“I have to go too,” Belle says. “I'm meeting Zelena. She's interested in taking over from me as librarian.”

“I thought she was joking about that,” Regina mumbles. “Good luck. I refused to take her cuff off this morning so she could magic herself an ‘oz special breakfast’, whatever that may be, so she's cranky.”

Henry slides into the booth opposite August, and Emma sits down next to him. 

“At least it's not too much longer,” Emma tells Regina beseechingly. 

Regina sighs and nods. “I'm going to the counter to order. Pancakes?”

Emma and Henry nod in tandem. Then Henry says “Hey, August, you should come to the party!”

“Party?” He's still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the baby Emma had all those years ago somehow ended up in Storybrooke, living with the evil witch, who Emma is now dating.

“We're having a party at our house tomorrow night,” Henry says. “Zelena is moving out to be roommates with Red and Emma is moving in.”

“That's nice,” August manages. How has all of this happened since he lost her?

“It'll be good,” Henry continues, undeterred by August’s lack of conversation. “At least now Emma can stop asking Mom whether she wants to go _patrolling_ with her and wiggle her eyebrows. Talk about gross.”

Emma chokes on air. “Henry!”

“What?” he replies. “I'm eleven, not stupid.”

August finally manages a grin. 

“What are you talking about?” Regina asks, sliding into the booth next to August. He tries not to give in to his instinct to shove himself into the corner; Regina has clearly changed, they've even elected her _mayor_ for god’s sake. 

“Nothing,” Emma says very firmly. Her cheeks are still pink. “Henry was inviting August to our party tomorrow.”

“August didn't know about Emma being my birth mom,” Henry tells Regina. “But maybe we should pretend you did and that this was your plan all along?” He gives August a long, pensive look. “Yeah, that might work. Everyone is really annoyed with you because you took so long, but if we pretend you planned all this they might back off.” He gestures to Leroy and his little gang who are sitting at the table by the window, glaring at him.

“Thanks, Henry, but I think everyone has got the memo that I'm pretty much the worst Watcher of all time. And I'm cool with that. I've realised I'd much rather be a writer.”

Henry smiles. “I want to be a journalist. Or at least I thought I did.” He catches his mothers eye and quickly says “I mean, I've got time to figure it out.”

“Blue told Regina that Henry would make a good Watcher and that she should send him to be trained,” Emma mumbles for August's benefit. “You can imagine how hat suggestion went down.”

“If Henry wants to be a Watcher when he's grown up, he can be. He can be whatever he wants. I just don't believe in trying to predetermine his destiny when he's so young.”

“I know.” Emma reaches across and takes her hand. “You're right. And you know Belle said that under her leadership the Council is going to consider raising the age limit.”

“Well, that I can get behind,” August smiles. 

He sits with them until they finish their food, and then watches them as they head down the side walk to the apartment Mary Margret and David Blanchard still live in after all these years to get the rest of Emma's boxes. 

Henry walks slightly ahead of them, talking animatedly. They're not holding hands or being overtly coupley. But every so often they'll bump into each other gently and exchange looks that say ‘I'm still here, right next to you’.

August is suddenly overcome with relief. He hadn't realised how guilty he's been feeling about not finding Emma, about not bringing her home, about not being able to stop her from going from shitty home go shitty boyfriend to shitty job. 

But she's got a home now. She's the Slayer. She's got Watchers looking out for her who actually know what they're doing. She's got a family.

He lets out a long breath. Finally, finally, his work is done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's it! I've actually managed to complete this! Thank you very much to everyone who left comments throughout - I know it's sometimes hard to get into incomplete fics but knowing that other people were enjoying reading this story was really motivating.
> 
> Hopefully this is a satisfying ending for everyone who's stuck with me. Thanks again!
> 
> Authorette


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